


The Cam-Girl's Voice

by joeymoey



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: F/F, Other, read with caution
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-17
Updated: 2015-09-04
Packaged: 2018-04-15 03:58:12
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 22
Words: 26,663
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4592061
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/joeymoey/pseuds/joeymoey
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>One day, Ruby got a laptop, an evidence from the crime scene, and she has to encrypt it. It was clean of any fingerprints or any history at all. So it was brought to be searched from the inside out. But what she finds is someone's dirty secrets. Rated Explicit for EVERYTHING.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is something I got from a Creepypasta called “Memoirs of a Cam-Girl.” This won’t be scary, though. I know I’m like, FUCK FUCK FUCK, I’m still going to do it, but I need to chill sometimes. It’s also safe to say that pretty all my stories will be about Ruby as the main character.

Ruby Harris is a 25-year-old detective who was the best in the business. Only at 25, she can solve, even the worst cases, even the cases gone cold, she found the solution. She finds very small details and makes sure she’s gets EVERYTHING.

  One morning, she was at the office, drinking a cup of coffee. She remembered the moment she was hired into this line of work. It was the happiest moment of her life. She always wanted to go to work wearing suspenders. Of course, that’s _not_ the reason why she wanted this job. She always wanted to solve crimes and FUCKING JUSTICE, you know?

“Morning, Harris.” A voice greeted. The small girl turned around and looked up. A tall, orange-skinned woman wearing a white button-up, the sleeves folded to her elbow, gun shoulder holsters, black slacks, and black dress shoes. Her long, blonde hair pulled back into a pony tail. Jasper Scott.

“Morning, Scott,” Ruby greeted back. The tall woman went to grab some coffee.

“Ready for another day of solving?” Jasper said, before sipping her coffee.

“You know it,” Ruby laugh to herself.

“I heard this new one in the office back there.”

New case?

“Tell me about it,” Ruby persuaded.

“It was a laptop. They haven’t checked the inside, but it might all lead up to the person who owned it go missing.”  
“How did said-person even get the laptop?”  
“It was founded at the crime scene, but there was literally no evidence. We’re dealing with a kidnapping, my friend.”  
“How could someone get away with something like that and not leave anything behind?”  
“We don’t know. But you will, right Harris?”  
“I always do. But if no one can find anything, chances are even _I_ can’t even find the answer.”  
“Nonsense, I know you can.” Jasper encouraged.

“Thanks.” Ruby smiled, and sipped more of her coffee.

  Later that day, there was a knock on Ruby’s office door. She was looking at other folders of reports that could be at hand.

“Come in!” Ruby raised her voice.

  The door opened. It was a green-skinned woman. Her yellow hair slicked back, but created a triangle shape. She had the same outfit as Jasper, with holsters. She was holding a laptop carefully. She was wearing plastic gloves on her hands. The person behind her, a blue-skinned woman shorter, than the other. Her outfit more feminine, and she wore a vest around her torso. She had gloves on too, holding a bag with a long and black with plugs on both ends. That must be the charger. Peridot Gates. Lapis Lazuli.

“Gates, Lazuli,” Ruby turned to them in her office chair.

“Harris, this is your new case.” Peridot places the laptop onto the table. “Scott has the house.”

Ruby cracked her knuckles, “Why don’t I get the house?”  
“You have more patience than that prick,” Peridot stated. Lapis placed the charger next to the laptop.

“We already checked for fingerprints.” Peridot rubbed her temple.

“And there was some, right?” Ruby asked.

“Nada, none, that thing is _clean_.”

That’s strange. A person has to have used this before.

“Bring me a pair of gloves, I’m doing this right now.” Ruby requested the two.

“Right away,” Peridot said, and the two left.

Ruby stared at the plain, grey laptop. This has to have some idea as to what in tHE FUCK is going on here.

Peridot came back with plastic gloves.

“Thank you,” Ruby grabbed them and put them on.  
“Want to close the door?”  
“No, I don’t want to go crazy in here.” Ruby then opened the laptop. Ruby double-checked and Peridot wasn’t lying. It really was clean; not a single speck of _anything._

  Ruby turned on the laptop. It wouldn’t turn on. She opened the bag and used the charger.

It must’ve died.

  She was never someone to use a computer. She just _knew everything_.

The laptop was an automatic open. Nowadays, people would have a password. But it opened to a simple Microsoft background.

She noticed the battery wasn’t charging. It read:

_0% available (plugged in, charging)_

Defective battery.

There was no message saying there was an issue, though. Ruby took out a black notebook. It had all her past notes from solved crimes.

She opened to a blank page.

She started searching around the laptop. The name of the user was _“Kimi.”_

She wrote the name down in notebook.

_Kimi. Victim name?_

She had a cup full of pencils, pens, and highlighters on her table. She grabbed the bright yellow highlighter and lightened the name.

She checked the internet history. _Nothing._ Only the Google page she just went on was on it.

_No history. Erased? Incognito?_

She looked at Microsoft Word that was at the top of the start menu.

_It has been used._

She opened the folder and there were _hundreds_ of documents.

It was all named dates.

The latest date was 5/6/08.

_May 6, 2008_ _. Latest date. First use?_

She took a deep breath and opened it.

  It was short. It had a start time, a description, snarky comments, and an end time.

**8:42 PM**

**My first time. I was glad it was simple. The user was lollipapi69. He told me to take off all of my clothes and put my pussy up to my camera. He told me to finger myself and rub my clit. Told him to call him “daddy.” He came pretty quickly, I found that funny, but I didn’t laugh. He said it was great. I wonder if having regulars are a thing?**

**8:50 PM** **8 minutes.**

This confused Ruby. It was odd.

_Lollipapi69 username._

_First time? Specific time and date._

_In-depth description._

  She closed the window and looked for something else. It was a really strange clue, but it will help.

  She opened the Window Explorer, where all the folders and documents are in one place. There was one that was strange. It was just named _“Voice.”_

She opened it. There were just as many of these as the documents!

She looked at the earliest one.

5/6/08

Same as the first document. Could it be a voice and a transcript?

She then opened it and it was a simple voice recording.

She was saying the same thing as the document said.

Her voice was calm and it was stressed words when needed.

Ruby didn’t care that the people outside were also confused and listening.

_Voice recording and a transcript with it._

She continued to reread the transcript until she connected the dots.

She wrote down.

_Cam-girl._

She highlighted it.


	2. Chapter 2

  “A cam-girl?” Jasper questioned.

Sitting in Ruby’s plain office, she was back from looking at every speck of the house, and nothing was left. _Nothing._

“Yes, it’s when a girl sets up a camera with a chatroom and talk to people and telling her what to do with her body and giving them a show.” Ruby explained, “But apparently, she was also working as a private cam-girl. These transcripts and logs are her talking about what she did.”

“So, there were hundreds of them?”  
“ _Thousands. Millions_ even. She’s been doing this since 2008.”  
“You’re saying this is what she did as a job?”  
“Yes, paid and everyday of her life. This should start as an idea to how old she is then and now.”  
Ruby continued, “And since there’s nothing at the house, _oddly suspicious,_ you’re helping me with this, Scott.”  
“This is an interesting one. I checked every part, finger prints, blood stains, any mess, shoe scuffs, even. It’s like no one even lived there.”

“Does it line-up with any other past cases?”  
“Actually yes.” Jasper stood up from her chair, “We had some bookmarked, before you started working here, because none of them led to anything.”  
“I’m listening,” Ruby rested her elbows on her table.

“They _all_ have to do with people going missing. They _all_ has to do with a kidnapping. And _all of them_ leaves nothing behind.”  
“Quite a specific and an attentive kidnapper. This guy really doesn’t want to be found.”  
“It’s all so consistent. It’s the same pattern. However, I think this laptop will be our ticket.”  
“I think so too. Bring in the other cases. We’re solving this, Scott.”  
“Right on, Harris.” Then she left to do so.

Ruby stared the computer. She clicked the next log. 5/7/08

It went on longer. Multiple times with different people. Ruby listened closely:

**“** **1:02 PM**

**Client name is jiffyroll. He told me to take off all my clothes and proceed to put my butthole to the camera. And wanted me to repeatedly call him a “limpy dick tic-tak.” As he ejaculated, he was a screamer. Second day and it already got weird. *giggles* I better get use to it to pay for my life.**

**1:11 PM** **9 minutes”**

  Jasper came back with a stack of light brown-colored folders. And they were stacked until it was taller than Ruby sitting down.

Ruby wrote in her book.

_Why is she logging her times in?_

“She was doing unspeakable things to herself in front of an audience. She probably never wanted this to be discovered, but here we are.” Ruby leaned back on her chair.

“I’m sure there’s a reason behind why she is doing this.” Jasper sat down in one of the chairs, across from Ruby.

“We need to listen to these together, Scott,” Ruby scrolled to the next one.

“Go ahead,” Jasper had a serious look on her face.

 

**“** **1:30 PM**

**Client bighorny90, he told be to take off all my clothes, except my bra and panties and told me to do a private dance for him. As I do so, I noticed his arm moving up and down. It was quite awkward for me, not because he was masturbating, but because I was dancing to no music. I’ve done some “mock lap dances” in my time. Maybe put that on my resume. After he ejaculated, he said “thanks baby,” smiled at me, and it ended. I think I did pretty good. But, I never knew cumming slowly was a thing.**

**1:45 PM** **15 minutes.”**  
  


  Jasper looked uncomfortable in her seat.

“Are we going to have to listen to every single one of these?” She had a distressed look on her face.

“Yeah, they’re all going to lead to _something_ and we have to know everything.” Ruby said as she wrote in her notebook.

_Every day job. Is Kimi even her real name?_

She highlighted her question.

“I mean, I can’t lie,” Jasper nodded.

Ruby looked at her, eyebrow raised.

“She sounds sexy, though.”  
“Now’s not the time, Scott. She could be dead out there.”  
“I know! But, listen to her, man.”  
“That’s our fucking job!”  
“Okay, sorry,” Jasper fixed her ponytail, “Is Kimi her real name? Why would she use a different name?”  
“Maybe she was actually ashamed of what she does. Maybe she lived only on herself, and this was last resort. She didn’t want people to know who she really was. So she made sure to not be recognized if someone ever used this or to remind herself to use this name when she goes live.”  
“It’s all “maybe” for now.” Jasper got up and grabbed a marker, “Let’s use this whiteboard.”

There was a giant whiteboard to the right of the room when you enter. Her desk facing the door.  
“Yeah, we need to spread out ideas.”  
_Pseudonym? Why?_

_Cam-girl. Why?_

_Why is she recording and detailing each client?_

 

“Start the next one,” Jasper turned around, her back to the whiteboard.

Ruby did so.

 

**“** **2:10 PM**

**Client lastnamefirstname. It was actually a woman. She started with a simple conversation at first. It’s like we weren’t on a private show livecam. She then says, “I’ve never done this before.”**  
I said, “Why do it now?”  
She says, “I always wanted to try it.”  
I said, “Well, I’m glad to be your first.”  
She had a cute smile. She told me to start undressing, as she started to unbutton her shirt. She giggled from time-to-time. But, I’ve never been this excited to do this before. Yeah yeah, I’m attracted to girls. *giggles* I could tell in her videofeed she was nervous. She told me to play with my clit. And she’ll play with hers. She was in her chair and I was on my bed. She had a cute laugh and watching her play with her herself made me more excited. Watching her cum made me cum harder. After that, we kind of just laughed and then she was gone. I hope she comes back.

**2:40 PM** **30 minutes.”**

  Once the recording was over, Ruby looked at the whiteboard and in big, bold letters, **LESBIAN**.

“Scott, that’s not important.” Ruby rolled her eyes.

“How so?” Jasper asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

Ruby clicked her tongue, “Okay, you can have it on the board, but erase that one. It’s too big.”

Ruby played the next one. Whoever “Kimi” is, she didn’t seem to mind this was her job. Does she enjoy it?

She wrote it in her notebook.

_Actually enjoys job?_

“So she had men and women clients,” Jasper wrote on the board.

“Mostly men, but she’s more attracted to women.” Ruby added.

“Too bad we can’t track these people,” Jasper put her hand on her hip.

“Kimi is very good at describing, so I don’t think we need to talk to them at all.”  
“I know, but if she had the recordings in her laptop, then we can track something.”  
Ruby turned to Jasper, “Write this on the board. Put it in bold.”

**Where did she go?**

**Who took her?**

  Ruby and Jasper took a break. You can only listen for _so_ long.

  “That was only day two.” Ruby huffed, drinking water from a plastic cup.

“I’m going to take a wild guess at her age,” Jasper also drank from a plastic cup, which is really tiny in her hand.

“Go for it.”  
“So, since the videos date back to 2008, and let me guess, 18 at the time?”  
“I’m listening.”  
“So she would be 25 now,” Jasper sipped from her water. “Like you, Harris.”

“That’s actually a good guess.” Ruby wrote it in her notebook.

_Dates back to 2008. Maybe 18 at this time?_

_Possibly 25._

“Why would she be doing this at that age, though?”  
“Maybe she had gotten rejected by every college and got kicked out her parents’ home, you know? And then, she wasn’t able to get a job, so this was her last shot.”

Ruby wrote it in her book.

_Reject?_

  Ruby fixed her gloves and waited for Jasper’s signal.

“I just noticed how monotone she sounds when she talked about men.” Jasper turned around from looking at the board.  
“So that’s an even bigger clue that she’s a lesbian?” Ruby went with it.

“YES.” Jasper was fucking serious.

“ _Scott,_ she could be dead.” Ruby reminded.

“I know, but that’s interesting! She’s doing shows for men for their entertainment. That means she _really_ needed the money.”  
“She could be bi, you know. Or pan.”  
“I’m sticking with lesbian.” Jasper turned again, grabbed a red marker, and circled the word “lesbian” written on the board. “Start the next one.”  
Ruby rolled her eyes and did so.

5/8/08 _Click._

 

**“** **12:06 PM**

**Client name is mr.hotdicky. I was told to take off all my clothes and put my fingers into both my pussy and asshole and call him “daddy.” I would call him that from time-to-time and he would say “good girl.” I saw his head tilt back, mouth gaping, and arm going up and down at an impressive speed. He then left. I need to masturbate, that was awful. I’m pretty good at faking my moans, if I do say so myself.**

**12:11 PM** **5 minutes.”**  
  


“So at times, she hates this job.” Ruby wrote into her notebook.

“Can’t wait to get into the weird shit,” Jasper wrote something on the board.

“Why are you putting all the usernames?”

“Because when we find this sick fuck we got all his names he used and what he did in them.”  
“Good idea.”  
Ruby clicked the next one.

 

**“** **12:30 PM**

**Client name is workhardyesplayhardyes. It was a woman. She asked me if I had any toys. I said, “yes.” I took out my generic pink dildo that I used once in a while. She told me to only take off my shorts and panties and ride it on my bed. She was already naked, lying on her side on her bed. She then angled herself, her pussy in full view. She licked her fingers and started to rub her clit. Which was SUCH a huge turn-on towards me. I never moaned so loudly before. I was riding and basically bouncing on it, wanting to cum so hard. Hearing her moans and hearing mine mix together was driving me crazy. Hearing her moans go high-pitched and seeing her hips buck made me cum so hard, I think tears came out of my eyes. She then got up and fixed the camera on her face. “Thank you, love.” I heard and she was gone. *whew* I got turned on just remembering this again.**

**12:41 PM** **11 minutes.”**  
  


“She gets into a lot of detail when she’s with women, god,” Jasper fixed her tie.  
“Be professional, Scott.” Ruby didn’t write anything.

“Play the next one,” Jasper demanded.

Ruby knew she’ll never get sleep from this shit.

 

**“** **12:56 PM**

**Client name is trampstamp. The man looked around my age. He was just all smiles and said this was his first time. He told me that he came to my livestreams, but he wanted to talk personally. He talked about how beautiful I was and how he always masturbated during my streams, but never liked how thousands of people watched altogether. He was rather sweet, but it was my job. He didn’t want to me to do anything; just talk. After talking about my job and asking him why he was coming to livestreams. He said, “I was lonely.” He did a chuckle after that. I chuckled too, jokingly saying I did this because I was lonely. He said I was amazing and wished me a nice day. And then left. It was a nice change of pace.**

**1:16 PM** **20 minutes.”**  
  


“That’s kind of strange, honestly,” Ruby leaned back on her chair.

“Why?”  
“People who go on livestreams and pay for private shows _are_ lonely.”

“I’m loving her voice, man—

“Not important, Scott.”  
Ruby continued, “Her own age?”  
“Yeah, I’m writing that down next to his username. It’s too early in the documents, but you never know, Harris.”  
“Right,” Ruby nodded her head.

She played the next one.

 

**“** **1:24 PM**

**Client name is ryan360. His camera was just faced down at his penis. Stroking it up and down in his hand. He told me to take off my shirt and bra and play with my breasts. I made sure my acting was top notch and make sure this ended fast. Seeing this semen fly out and get on his shirt, he left. I was glad.**

**1:29 PM** **5 minutes.”**  
  


“That was short,” Ruby was honestly happy.

“Thank fuck,” Jasper wiped her forehead with the back of her hand.

“I would be glad too.”  
“She sounded bored as fuck.”

“I would too.”  


**“** **1:35 PM**

**Client name is bananafana. He was monochrome and wasn’t much to him. He requested that I take off all my clothes and do a dance for him. He handled the music. At least he had good connection. Can’t dance to choppy music. Just like most men who came to my private shows, he just masturbates along. I didn’t know what song it was, but I was able to dance to it. He came, gasping for air and probably for life too, and left. I need a day off, or get a job as a stripper instead. I might have a better chance this time.**

**1:47 PM** **12 minutes.”**  
  


“I think she would still be here if she was a stripper.” Jasper said.

“I don’t think so.” Ruby denied, “She would be in more danger.”  
“Harris, is there any pictures?” Jasper asked.

Ruby was dumbfounded, “I was so caught-up on these documents I totally forgot.”  
“That will fucking help. It’s fine, I got caught-up too. Even great minds like you can forget.”

  Ruby closed the voice logs and the transcripts. She opened up the pictures. There were two.

A blue girl just smiling at the camera. Her bangs covering her eyes, thick lips, and a normal white shirt on.

The second one, however, she was biting her lower lip and was wearing a black-and-red bra. The straps fallen off.

“So that’s what she looks like.” Ruby stared.

Jasper went behind her and looked at the pictures.

“This should help,” Jasper said, “Wow, the voice matches really well.”  
“Not important,” Ruby sighed.  
“She’s sexy—

“She could be dead, Scott.”


	3. Chapter 3

  Ruby and Jasper stayed awake overnight. They were able to go through the entire month of May. They printed out the two pictures they found in the laptop.

“So now we have the face to go with the voice,” Ruby said as she stood up from her seat. They placed the pictures next to the whiteboard with pushpins.

“Yeah, we’re stepping forward.” Jasper added.

“Now we need her name. Her _real_ name.” Ruby paced around.

“I was convinced her name is Kimi,” Jasper looked at the pictures.

“Highly doubtful. She must’ve considered becoming a porn star at some point.”  
“It would make this easier.”  
“I have no idea. Do you think we should look?” Ruby _really_ hoped she’ll say no.

“I mean, it’s back in 2008, so it wouldn’t hurt to look for a second.”  
Ruby sighed.  
“You can look for it,” Ruby turned back to the laptop. “Use your phone.”  
“You bet I will.” Jasper pulls her phone from her left pocket.

Ruby just sighed.

  Ruby started feeling this weird connection with this “Kimi.”  
The more they listened to her speak, the more she felt like she knew her.

Like, she knew her all her life.

“Nope,” Jasper said, “But I am planning to watch some of these.”  
“Good for you,” Ruby scratched her head, “But we need to listen to these…”  
The shorter woman yawns.

“Maybe we should sleep.”  
“N-no! We need to stay awake! We need to find all these women.”  
“Okay, let’s listen to one more.”  
Ruby clicked the next link. 6/1/08

 

 **“Hi, my name is Kimi** **Jordan** **. This is just a test to see if this thing still works and I really need to delete this later.”**  
  


That was the end.

“Wait, that still can’t be her name,” Jasper said, while adding the name “Jordan” on the board.

“But she used it for a test. Don’t you think she would’ve said something else if she were to delete it?”  
“Maybe she is still getting used to using a stage name. I wonder where she got this name from?”  
“We need to listen to more of these, now we know some of these are not just her logs from work.” Ruby clicked the next one.

  Ruby looked at the next transcript, it was _really_ long and went back to her job logs.

 

**“** **12:10 PM**

**I brought in my friend today. Well, my fuck buddy? My friends with benefits? I brought her in. I told her she can watch from the side, but she said she wanted to be a part of it in some way. Client hotheadd23 was in for a surprise. He had his camera facing down at his already-erect penis. I didn’t let them tell me anything this time. I got consent from my friend and blindfolded her. She was smiling, but I knew her heart was racing. Her clothes were already off before the camera was turned to “ACTION.” Kissing her lips and her neck was how it started. Hearing her moans and her hands grasping to me was _so_ hot. I let her lay down and made sure her legs stayed far apart. The client was vigorously masturbating, which honestly looked painfully, and I had to start eating her out right away. I need her, I _wanted_ her. Her hands grabbed for my hair, holding it tightly, keeping me in. Her whimpers were enticing, alluring, I _wanted more._ We both heard the client moaning loudly and gasping, but we both ignored even looking at him. I looked and saw he was gone. I got up and moved the blindfold from her eyes. She looked tired. Her eyes were glazed. I hope we’ll do this in the future. *sighs*  
** **12:40 PM** **30 minutes.”**

  Ruby and Jasper were shocked. Like, that _really_ just happened.

Jasper let out a sigh, “I think I just jizz a little—

“She could be dead, Scott.” Ruby sounded calmer and calmer as she continues to say this phrase.

“So she had friends do this with her.” Jasper wrote on the board.

“Or maybe just the one,” Ruby claimed, “Because you can’t have multiple friends with benefits, or else, it’s weird, isn’t it?”  
“I don’t know, this is only month two, so I have a feeling she done this with multiple people.”  
Ruby wrote in her notebook.

_Told friend(s)?_

“I wish we can just save her already or something!” Ruby heated up, “Then, tell her it’s all okay now.”  
“Are you catching feelings for someone who could be “dead out there?’”

“Don’t say that back to me and I’m not.”  
“Just play the next one, Harris.”

 

**“** **3:59 PM**

**Client dollatrap was somewhat… odd. It was an empty room; the camera on the floor. I was sitting there, staring at myself, hoping to god nothing weird happens. I was getting uncomfortable so I said, “hello?” And then a woman came, crawling on her hands and knees with a collar around her neck and a chain attached. She was fully naked and there was a man behind her, I only saw his legs and feet, covered by black pants, and black boots. She looked disheveled and… scared. She said, “He’s coming.” And then it cut off. *sighs* I need a day off.**

**4:05 PM** **6 minutes.”**  
  


  “We’re getting somewhere!” Jasper raised her voice.

“So it really was all the way back to the beginning.” Ruby rubbed her temple.

“Yes!” Jasper wrote “dollatrap” on the board in red.

“I think the black pants and boots will help too.”

“Maybe, unless they look different every time.”

“Or use a different name.”  
Ruby put the username in her notebook in bold.

“Should we listen to the next one?” Ruby asked.

“Go for it,” Jasper sat down and yawned.

6/2/08

 

**“** **1:10 PM** **  
Client wontstopcantstop requested that I take off all my clothes and if I had toys in my possession, use them on myself. Technically I had two, but you know what? Even myself have to lie too. Anal isn’t my thing. I used my pink dildo and used it on my pussy. I kind of forgot that the client was there, so I got a little too into it. But luckily, he left before I could even climax first. Good.**

**1:16 PM** **6 minutes.”**

  Ruby’s eyes started to droop and become heavy.

“Harris, come on,” Jasper snapped her fingers in front of Ruby’s face.

“Sorry, we need to get through this!” Ruby shot up.

Ruby looked at the pictures again. She huffed, “Next clip.”  
  She clicked it, but there wasn’t even a transcript to go with it. It was just moaning and groaning. It sounded far, so she didn’t know it was on in the first place. Hearing the occasional “harder” and “faster” and some “fuck” here and there. It took a while to end. It ended with, “Whoops, left it on.”  
“That didn’t sound like her voice doing all the moaning, though,” Jasper said, turning towards Ruby.  
“It was probably her friend she was talking about.” Ruby wrote in her notebook.

“At least she gets some when she’s not working.” Jasper placed her hands on her hips.

“I don’t think this will help us.” Ruby yawned.

“Ditto,” Jasper said.

Ruby clicked the next one. 6/3/08

 

**“** **12 PM**

**Client timestandstill80 requested me to get naked, pee in a bucket, and do so. *sigh* I would get into details of this one, but a golden shower on myself has been one of the worst experiences ever.**

**12:05 PM** **minutes.”**  
  


“I already felt bad for her.” Ruby said, “But, now I feel even worse.”  
“I know, I can’t stand the idea of peeing _on_ someone, let alone on yourself.”  
Ruby looked at the pictures again.

“Whoever this guy is,” Ruby started, “He gave out a hint that “he’s coming.’”  
“Right,” Jasper agreed, “So, maybe he did this yearly.”  
“Maybe, but why would someone want to give out hints that they’re going to do something horrible.”  
“Well, it was described in the log that it was a naked woman on her hands and knees with a chain held by a guy with black pants and black boots. He’s showing her what he does to women.”  
“So, he’s telling her to be afraid?”  
“Precisely. He’s doing it in stages. Or they.”  
“Well, we’re only in month two.”  
“Yeah, want to pull another all-nighter?”  
“Let’s do it.”  
  Ruby clicked the next log under that date.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was thinking of changing this into a more Human AU, simply because I like the idea of Jasper with vitiligo. But, what do you think?
> 
> Review and shit.


	4. Chapter 4

  Ruby and Jasper were able to pull another all-nighter. Now month three. 7/1/08

The two started developing bags under their eyes.

Ruby was staring at the two pictures on the wall. The blue girl, who looked friendly, and had her eyes hidden.

Ruby huffed.

“We can do this, Scott!” Ruby exclaimed. Their shirts not tucked in anymore, their suspenders not around their shoulders, but hanging at their pants, their ties now just around their necks.  
“We need to sleep, Harris…” Jasper mumbled, her hair falling out of her ponytail.

“I’m going to talk to Gates and Lazuli, you can sleep.” Ruby got up from her office chair.

She walked out of her office and saw the two women talking to each other down the hall.  
“Harris!” Lapis called.

Ruby rubbed one of her eyes as she walked over.

“Wow, you look…” Lapis said as soon as Ruby arrived.

“Fucking awful, I know,” Ruby finished.

“Have you guys slept at all?” Peridot placed a hand on her hip.

“No, we need every detail,” Ruby was uncoordinated and swaying around.  
“We can help you guys, you know?” Peridot added.

“Yeah, we’re all a team,” Lapis added even more.

“You guys are usually signed to different cases, so I didn’t know…” Ruby was almost out of it.  
“Yeah, but we’re here and this one is the hardest case out there. Let us help.” Lapis said with a smile.

Ruby had to, she felt like she was dying herself.

“Yeah,” Ruby nodded her head, “Come with me.”  
  Now a team of four, they were in the moderate-sized room with notes and papers everywhere.

“So this is who that went missing?” Peridot looked at the two pictures.

“Yeah, she said herself her name is Kimi Jordan, but we are sure, _for sure_ , that it isn’t her real name.” Ruby sat next to the sleeping Jasper, chugging down coffee.  
“She sure is pretty,” Lapis said, “But, what does she do that you guys stayed up for days?”  
“Cam-girl,” Ruby answered, “She recorded logs about what she did with each client during her client’s private show. Lapis make sure you wear gloves and Peridot, make sure you have nice handwriting.”  
Lapis grabbed the black notebook on the table.  
“I should write stuff down too, right?” Lapis asked.

“Yeah, it’ll help keep track.”  
“Okay, right away, ma’am,” Lapis went out to get gloves.

“You guys rest easy, okay?” Peridot said.

  Both Ruby and Jasper slept, Ruby leaning on Jasper.

Peridot and Lapis listened to the logs.

“This is a strange case,” Peridot said, reading the board, “Why is dollatrap in red and bold?”  
“That must’ve when they found some good evidence.” Lapis conclude.  
“I guess, why is lesbian in bold?”  
“Probably Jasper being weird.”  
  After what felt like an eternity, Ruby and Jasper got up. They rubbed their eyes and yawned one more time.  
They saw the progression the two made.  
“How’s it going, guys?” Jasper asked, getting up from her seat.

“Nothing strange, yet,” Peridot said, “Er, nothing suspicious, I mean, all of this is strange.”  
“I never heard of a horror movie fetish.” Lapis said, writing in the notebook.

“I feel bad for her,” Peridot added.

“I’m going to give her a hug once we find her.” Lapis said, putting the notebook down.

There was a silence after that.

“Or at least, take her to safety,” Lapis tried to save.

“There might be multiple girls under whoever dollatrap is,” Jasper spoke again.

“What makes you sure?” Peridot stared at the red and bold name.

“Well, we’re still in 2008 and we already found a clue.” Jasper looked at the board.

“And might be still alive,” Ruby added, “We need to erase the lesbian on the board, though.”  
“Come on,” Jasper protested, “It’s important.”  
“It’s not going to help us find her. Or _them_.”  
“But—

“She could be dead, Scott.”  
  The days went by quicker working as four. Kimi was able to go through one whole month without anything wary happen.

8/1/08

“So month three was fine.” Jasper said, working on the board with Peridot.

“Yup,” Lapis answered, “This is actually quite fun to listen to. I mean, I’ve never watched a camshow before.”  
“But listening to these things is like we really _are_ watching them.” Ruby was writing in her notebook.

“Right,” Lapis said, “Gee, 2008 though?”  
“Yeah, the poor girl…” Ruby sighed.

“Anyway,” Peridot returned the conversation to the matter at hand, “Kimi encounter a girl who was treated like a dog on camera, with a person in the background wearing black pants and boots?”  
“The girl said, “he’s coming,’” Ruby added, “So it is a man we’re going after.”  
“Let’s listen to month four,” Lapis suggested.

“Go for it.” Ruby readied herself.

 

**“** **3:02 PM**

**Client beatboxerboxer requested that I try to deepthroat my own dildo. He said he didn’t mind if I threw up; he was into that. And guess what? I did. I threw up so much just to have more money in my life. I would’ve thrown up my brain and probably my organs if he didn’t ejaculate sooner. But, thank god he did. I need to sleep. Only one for today.**

**3:10 PM** **8 minutes.”**

“I feel really bad now, but I don’t think I could stomach that if it went on any longer.” Lapis sighed slowly.

“I think she needs more than sleep,” Jasper scratched her head, “Only one that day.”  
Ruby was slumping in her chair, angrily writing in her book.

She was lost in thought of how Jasper asked her that she might have caught feelings for someone she doesn’t actually know.

But, it’s like she really does know her now.

8/2/08

Lapis was still regulating her breath, “I need a minute, guys.”  
“Okay, go out and get some air,” Ruby told, “We’ll be in here.”  
Lapis got up and left right away.

Peridot was looking at the picture.

“What’s up, Gates?” Ruby looked too.

“I don’t know why, I just feel like I’ve seen her before.” Peridot had a finger on her chin.

“Like, in public?” Jasper asked, fixing her ponytail.

“I don’t know, I just feel like I’ve seen her before.” Peridot sat down and ponders on the thought. This man is probably “The Invisible Rapist.” It’s a thought.

“Guys, what about the casesfor the invisible rapist?” Ruby brought up.  
“Dead and gone,” Jasper said, “He’s invisible for a reason.”  
“That doesn’t mean you give up! Maybe that person Kimi was talking about _is_ the guy?!” Ruby predicted.

Jasper and Peridot looked at each other and they started to connect dots.

“It does seem right, but they were left clues, but it wasn’t enough to catch anyone.”  
“Maybe he was extra careful this time,” Ruby wrinkled her nose, “Like, he made extra sure that he will absolutely not get caught.”  
“Maybe,” Jasper wrote it on the board.

“Should we triple check the house?” Ruby placed the push end of her pen on her chin.

“That house was clean, Harris.”  
“But it doesn’t hurt to check one more time.” Ruby said. Miss “never miss a spot” needs to check.

“Well, Lazuli and I can handle it here. You and Scott can go back to the house.” Peridot planned.  
“Sounds good to me.”

“Yup, we’ll go tomorrow,” Jasper said.

  Lapis came back with a cold bottle of water.

“Sorry, that was hard to pass.”  
“It’s okay,” Peridot said, “Harris and Scott here will go to the house tomorrow. So, we handle it, okay?”  
“Good, I hope you guys find some evidence.”

“Us too.” Jasper looked at the shorter girl.

“She might be alive, Harris.”

“She might be alive, Scott.”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> House tour next time. I hoped you enjoy.
> 
> Review and shit. :3


	5. Chapter 5

While Ruby and Jasper decided to sleep for the house tomorrow, Lapis and Peridot worked together to get through month four overnight.

“Are you okay, Lazuli?” Peridot asked, her back to the blue woman, “You can go out for a little, if you have to.”  
“I’m fine,” Lapis chugged down some water, “What if this guy really is The Invisible Rapist?”

“Well, then these other dead cases will finally have some light shed on them.” Peridot turned to put her hands on the stack pile of light-brown folders.

“I hope they’re all still alive.” Lapis said. Sorrow in her voice.

“We just have to find the location and hope to God that they’re all still alive.”

Lapis went back to the laptop, “We should put this guy on death row.”  
“Most likely not,” Peridot said, “He’ll most likely get some years, but only judged by his age will be die in MAXX or not.”  
“Or his cell is in solitary confinement.”

“We can’t do that.”  
“I will allow it.”  
“No—

“I will fight for it!”

  It was morning. Lapis and Peridot were still awake, in front of laptop and board. Ruby and Jasper were somewhere sleeping, not in the office.

“So nothing strange in month four.” Peridot wrote on the board.

Lapis wrote it in the notebook.  
“Hey,” Peridot looked at the pictures again.

“Yeah?”  
“Do you think we’ve seen her before?”

“No. Why? Do you?”  
“Yeah, it’s like in my mind, but I don’t remember.”

Then, Ruby and Jasper walk in. Looking fresher and they had a more professional and serious appearance.

“Ready to go to the house?” Lapis looked up from the laptop and look at the two.

“Yeah, we’re just checking up on you guys.” Ruby said, “You’ll be okay, right?”  
She was looking at Lapis.

“I’ll be fine,” Lapis nodded, “And we’ll be fine. You be a super hero out there, Harris.”  
“I’m on it,” Ruby had a confident smile, “Let’s go Scott.”  
  They had an elegant black car as transportation, which was easily dubbed as serious and meant business. Ruby has not seen the house yet, but once she sees some sort of evidence, she’s going to smack Jasper silly.

  They arrived to the scene. It was still surrounded by police tape and not a single number around. They saw a familiar crew.

“Officer Garnet?” Jasper called out.

 “Hello?” Garnet turned around and walked over to the two.

  A maroon-colored woman was roaming around the premises. Her blue uniform that fit to her body and sunglasses, all the time, made her look pokerfaced and not taking any of your shit today. And had an afro so square and huge, it was like a box on her head.

“We’re here to triple check the house,” Ruby said.

“You already checked it,” Her calm and stoic demeanor matched the voice. And, you know, British.

“We know,” Jasper said, being the same height of the officer, she was able to talk to her face-to-face, “But she insists that we check one more time.”  
Ruby had her hands on her hips.

“Very well then,” Garnet lifted the police tape up so they can go under it.

  The house was rather small. It had a greenish color to it, but it was fading. It was noticeable from the outside that the blinds for the windows are all closed.

Now inside the house, it looked normal. Sort of.

Jasper wasn’t kidding when she said it was like “no one lived here.” No couch, no TV, no tables and chairs, but there was food, indicating that someone did, in fact, live in this house.

“So, you better look _everywhere_ this time.” Ruby directed Jasper as she put on gloves.  
“Yes, Harris,” Jasper was also putting on gloves.

Ruby went around looking rather _closely_.

Jasper made sure she did look everywhere, as Ruby said.

Ruby went into the one bedroom the house had.

She saw that even the bedroom was clean. Only a bed and a single TV were in this room. The bed didn’t have a frame and the TV didn’t have a stand. Only the bed was a bit of mess, but it was probably from finding the laptop on top.

She checked the bed. No hair samples here. What kind of person took the time to make sure not even _a single_ hair didn’t get left behind?

She checked the TV. No fingerprints here.

There was no carpet, just brown wooden flooring. Did she do her work mostly on the floor or the bed?

Until, she found something suspicious.

Glitter?

Ruby got close to the floor, to look at the shiny specks on the floor.

“Red color?” Ruby said to herself. _Bingo. Evidence._

Scott, you didn’t look close enough!” Ruby yelled.

Jasper stepped into the room, “What? You actually found something?”  
“Yeah, glitter,” Ruby pulled out her phone, “Hold on.”  
  Lapis and Peridot were writing on the board together. Lapis’s phone goes off.

“Excuse me,” Lapis went out the office and answered, “What’s up, Harris?”  
“Hey,” She heard, “Can you check the laptop again? I think we missed something on the outer?”  
“The outer?” Lapis went back in again, looking at the laptop like she was told.

“Anything?”  
“Um…” Lapis then saw one dot of shine, “Yes. It’s… just glitter.”  
“We found some here too. In Kimi’s room.” Ruby looked down at the floor.

“Really? Good!” Lapis lit up. She hung up.

“What happened?” Peridot wrote down “deepthroatqueen.”  
“Evidence, Peri!” Lapis exclaimed happily, “Glitter! Pixie dust!”  
“Fuck, we actually missed that,” Peridot facepalmed herself.

“Well, we overlooked tiny things like that, because there’s a big picture.” Lapis referred to the whiteboard.

“We now have glitter,” Lapis added.

  “Let’s look outside the house,” Ruby said, after placing yellow number signs on the floor.

Jasper went out first, only to be greeted by Garnet again.

“We missed some tiny shit, officer.” Jasper said.

“Really? What’s going on at the office?”  
“We’re distracted by the laptop. It has logs and transcripts, so it sucked us in, you know?”  
Garnet hummed, “Are you guys done?”  
“Perimeter check,” Ruby started looking at the grass.

“Yeah, that,” Jasper started looking too.

It was sunny outside, some people watching, but they looked out for the glitter. Jasper had to basically crawl around. Just to see the shine of the little hints.

A police car rolled up and parked behind Jasper’s and Ruby’s. A purple, short and stout woman and a pale-white woman with quite an impressive nose came out.

They wore their blue uniforms, fitted to their bodies like Officer Garnet’s; the shorter one had her hair up, a white mass of hair in a long ponytail, much like Jasper’s. The tall one had a more tangerine-colored hair and it was pixie cut. But in Jasper’s mind, it was styled like Sonic the Hedgehog.

The detectives didn’t pay much attention to them, but the officers sure paid all theirs to them.

“Are they okay?” The pale one asked.

“I think so.” Garnet replied, confused herself.

“Well, might as well wait.”

The two who just arrived proceeded to lean on their car.

And waited.  



	6. Chapter 6

Ruby and Jasper spent quite a bit of time outside the house, squinting at the concrete and grass. The three officers stood by and watched them.

“I don’t remember detectives being so strange,” The tall pale cop said.

“Me neither, but this case is intriguing, I’ll give them that.” Garnet also stared behind her shades.

“Did they even find anything?” The shorter purple cop asked.

“Pixie dust.”  
“Well, at least they’re getting somewhere.”  
  “I FOUND SOME MORE!” Ruby exclaimed on the pathway. The crossing from the door to the sidewalk, more of the same red glitter.

“So she was taken from her room and then through here,” Jasper looked too. “The wood flooring is dark as fuck, how am I supposed to see it?”

“Look closer!” Ruby continued to yell.

The two were staring each other down, until—

“Are you guys done now?” They heard.

“Um, yes,” Jasper cleared her throat, “We’ll be leaving now. Can you place a number down here?”  
The two crouched under the police tape, said their farewells, and then got in their car.  
“Well,” Jasper said, buckling in her driver’s seat, “We finally took one step closer.”  
“Yeah,” Ruby buckled as well, “I think this will definitely help. The glitter better stay on her once we find her, though.”  
“I doubt it.”  
  Back at the building, Ruby and Jasper walked to Ruby’s office.

They were shocked to find the numerous papers and names written down.

“What is this?” Ruby looked around.

“More notes,” Peridot looked rather “fucked up” as one would say.

“Do you guys need sleep or something?”

“NO!” Lapis and Peridot said in unison.

Well, they’re both fucked.

“Guys, you weren’t like this when we left,” Ruby remarked, “What happened?”  
“We must work harder,” Lapis said, frazzled, “We’re going to find her, Harris! WE WILL!”  
“You guys sleep, we’ll do this,” Ruby directly said, grabbing Lapis by her shoulders.

Lapis actually hissed at her, like, that _really_ happened.  
She hissed and waved her hands around.

“Come on, Lazuli,” Ruby fought back. She had to drag the girl from her shoulders, out of the chair, and out of Ruby’s office.

“You too, Gates,” Jasper grabbed the green woman by her arm and also dragged her out, as much as she tried to grip the wall and grab onto things to stay in.

“NO! NO!” Peridot protested as she was being taken away.

“Get some sleep, you two!” Jasper shut and locked the door, making sure they don’t try to get in.  
  Jasper sighed, loudly, letting Ruby know that she’s fucking done with this shit.

“Well, we’re getting somewhere,” Ruby sat down in her spin-y office chair, “Because of them, they were able to go further into these days.”  
“How?” Jasper walked around, leaned her hand on the chair, and looked at the laptop screen, “Wow, pixie dust gets them excited.”  
“They were able to get from month 8 to 11 in the amount of time we were gone,” Jasper added, “That’s faster than us overnight.”  
“But how?” Ruby raised her eyebrow.  
Jasper got up and looked around at the papers and the whiteboard. The handwriting was somewhat sloppy, but readable. The usernames were both black and red. The red meaning there could be something fishy.

“They are rushing,” Jasper said, staring at the whiteboards, “They really want to find her. Or them.”  
“Well, because the glitter will help us,” Ruby got some gloves from one of her drawers and put them on, “The shapes and the color of them will be a bigger help.”

She got some tweezers from another drawer and picked up the one speck that was stuck to the back of the laptop.  
“Microscope?” Ruby said.

“Microscope.” Jasper said back.

  “So it’s a red piece of glitter with a hexagon shape and silver backs?” Jasper backtracked.

“Yes,” Ruby said, taking the slide that had the glitter in it, “This will also help in the long run.”  
“Nice—

“PLEASE LET US HELP!” Peridot cried, clinging to Jasper’s leg. She was on her knees, just begging to not sleep.

“Lapis is sleeping,” Jasper tried to shake her off, “Go! Sleep!”  
“No,” the green woman groaned, still clinging on.

  Once Jasper was able to shake her off, Ruby and Jasper went back, writing down the details of the one glitter speck.

“So, this person must’ve looked normal,” Jasper said, writing down the information of the board, or what’s left of space on it, “I mean, he got away. With no one seeing anything. I hope they’re okay.”  
“Me too,” Ruby fixed her gloves and clicked something on the laptop.

11/13/08

“But we’ll find her,” Ruby said as she pressed play on the next log. This one didn’t come with a transcript.

 

**“*sighs* I don’t know why, but I feel like I’m being followed. I know this is just for work, but this makes me feel safer, somehow. I should leave my windows closed from now on. I want to go to the police, but who would believe me? All I do is be a whore on camera. I need some sleep.**

“So that explains how her windows are closed.” Jasper sat down, hand on her chin, “God, we’re almost in 2009, we better do what Lazuli and Gates did. Just run through them.”  
“We need to listen to them, it’s fine.” Ruby said, “I want to find them too, but we can wait it out. And I’m sure she can too.”  
Jasper sighed, “Next one.”  


**“I can’t work, I can’t. I’m too scared and I went to the police. I told them how I feel like someone is following me and that I always see this weird and black figure standing across the street. They said I was crazy. That I was paranoid. I just want to feel safe. Are they saying that even I can’t trust the police?”**  
  


Ruby was shocked. Kimi actually went to the police, but our shitty force didn’t help her. She could be alive right now. She could’ve been safe.

“Ugh, fuck, it better not be Officer Garnet and those other fucks!” Ruby slammed a fist into her desk.

“Hey, hey, hey, easy, Harris!” Jasper became defensive.

“I can’t! She just needed help and no one helped her!”  
“Wow… you really did fall in love with Kimi.”  
“NO!” Ruby blew another fuse, “She just needed help and they didn’t do it! I’ll just play the next one!”  


**“I still haven’t gotten back to work yet. I kind of kept my friend here- HI! *giggles* That’s here. I’m only 18, I can take days off. But, I guess I’ll hang out here until I feel better and maybe get back someday?”**  
  


“So she was 18,” Jasper grinned, “I’m pretty good at guessing.”  
“We can now confirm it,” Ruby turned back to the first page of her notebook of this case and changed the age.

_Confirmed 18 in 2008._

“We should let in the other two now.” Jasper said.

“They should be fine now, we need all the help we can get,” Ruby shrugged her shoulders.

“You’re right. Let’s let them in.”

\---

  “Please…” A blue woman, bounded by ropes and chains, her position stuck on her knees, tears flowing down her cheeks, covered in black marks and red-covered slashes. “Just let me go…”  
She felt like she was nowhere. Her clothes, completely gone, her body covered in long marks of scratches, cuts, bruises, and even whip marks.

She looked upwards at the man, he was covered in all-black, except his eyes and mouth, and had his erect penis out.

“God, please, JUST LET ME GO!” She cried out.

Nothing. She was surrounded by other women who were also tied down. Some were watching in horror, some were passed out from either what had just happened or what happened _to them._

The blacked-out figure did nothing. The whip in his gloved hand, gripped it tighter, and was ready to crack it.

The blue woman hushed. Her tears coming out like waterfalls.


	7. Chapter 7

  Back at the office, Ruby, Jasper, Lapis, and Peridot all worked together. They were in year 2009, but it’s still a long way from 2015.

Ruby yawned, “I hope we didn’t forget anything at the house again.”

“I bet our dumbasses actually did,” Jasper said, capping her black marker again.

“Can you guys go to the house this time?” Ruby asked the blue and green.

“Sure,” Lapis said, placing the notebook down.

“I’m sure those police officers wouldn’t like that we came back.” Ruby thought about it. They really wouldn’t like it. Hell, they didn’t want to see them in the first place.

“We’ll be sure to check everything, Harris,” Lapis reassured.

“Thank you,” Ruby said. She waited until the two left the office.

“Ready to listen to 2009?” Ruby cracked her knuckles.  
“Go for it,” Jasper allowed, uncapping her pen.

Ruby clicked the link 1/5/09.

 

**“** **2:04 PM**

**Client name is ordinaryman83 and he directed me to try to put as many fingers into my pussy as I can. That kind of hurt. Thank GOD men cum fast or I’ll never hear the end of it.**

**2:09 PM** **5 minutes.”**  
  


“Nothing suspicious here,” Ruby said, writing down the username.

“Nope, just another dude wanting some pussy, but can’t get any,” Jasper said, writing the name on the board.  
Ruby sighed, rubbing her temples, “I’m getting a headache from all this.”  
“That’s only from a few months.” Jasper chuckled, “There’s more of that.”  
“But there’s more than that,” Ruby said, holding in her yawn, “There’s even normal ones.”  
“Yeah, and it will help. Play the next one.”  


**“*sighs* I think I’m losing it. God, I need another job too. I can’t…”**  
  


The audio went to her crying and sniffling.

Ruby stopped it.

“That’s enough of that one.” Ruby cleared her throat.

The group, even Lapis and Peridot, always think about saving her or them. These women went missing and in every house, before Kimi’s left nothing. So, really, Kimi saved them.  
“So she had depression?” Jasper guessed.

“Most likely,” Ruby had distress in her tone.

“It’s a good guess from right now,” Jasper said, “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Ruby said, clicking the next one.”  


**“Hello, my name is Kimi** **Jordan** **. I am currently 18 and turning 19 on January 27. I am recording this, just in case someone finds it. *sighs* So, my name is actually Sapphire Johnson. I have been deemed to being the little whore of HomeWorld High. I was raped on the campus during my Freshmen year and no one helped me. I cannot stress you enough how much it hurts to know that no one believed me. It hurts to know that even my own parents didn’t believe me and here I am. Alone. Sure, I have my high school diploma. But what good does it do for me?”**  
  


Then it ended. Ruby and Jasper were staring wide-eyed at the laptop.

Ruby wrote down,

_Sapphire Johnson._

_Birthday January 27._

_Rape Victim._

  Ruby stayed quiet.  
“Are you okay, Harris?” Jasper placed a gentle hand on Ruby’s shoulder.

“I went there,” Ruby said, her voice shaky, “I went there! I graduated with her! I—

“Easy, easy,” Jasper said, “Did you know her?”  
“I heard of her, but I didn’t pay much attention to them, but it was all bullshit and now I know it really was!”  
Ruby was breathing heavily. Her heart beating loudly. She knew who she was. She didn’t remember her face, but the name and the bullying, it all ran back to her.

“Harris,” Jasper snapped her back into reality, “Go outside. Get some air.”  
Ruby stood up and went out like she was told. She was sweating and her breath was uneven.

  She was trying to remember more of this girl. Who was she to her back when she was 15? Was she actually of importance? She doesn’t remember. She remembered her name, her face, hearing the name-calling, and hearing the shouts filled her mind.

She didn’t even care back then. She wanted to get through her high school years with all her robotics and mock-trial clubs. She would have had classes with her. It was MOST LIKELY.

Then, the fancy black car rolled up and parked in front of the building.

It stopped and the green woman sitting in passenger came out, “Harris, are you okay?”  
“I KNEW HER!” Ruby screamed. There were no pedestrians, so she could scream all she wants.

The two women watched the younger one pace around.

“Harris, please calm down, we’re going to find her!” Lapis hurried and grabbed Ruby’s arms.

Ruby was suddenly calming down. _I knew her._

  Back inside, Lapis and Peridot talked about how there was nothing else that connected to the crime.

“But we did take her papers or anything that seems will give us more information.” Lapis said, flipping through some papers with her gloved-hand.

“Yup,” Peridot grabbed one, “Sapphire Johnson. The poor girl is probably out there. Dead or alive.”  
Ruby was lying down on the couch in Lapis’s office. There was an ice pack on her head. She was still thinking about it. How she knew her and it didn’t come up for a single second.  
She felt lightheaded and need to rest for a bit.

“Harris, are you doing okay?” Lapis came in and checked on her.

Ruby’s speech was slurred, but somewhat clear, “I’m fine…”  
“It’s okay,” Lapis came in and sat on her office chair.

“I was told to keep you company,” Lapis said with concern, “Scott and Gates told me to stay here.”

“I was about to sleep.” Ruby pressed the icepack onto her forehead.

“I’m sorry, I bothered you?”  
“No, I’m fine, is there anything else you needed?”  
“Are you feeling any better from earlier?”  
“I guess. I can’t believe I actually knew her.”  
“Is there anything you remember?”  
“No. I just remembered her from the bullying and hearing her name at the graduation, but she just got booed.”  
“She was bullied throughout her entire high school career.” Lapis looked down at her feet.

“Yeah, it was pretty fucked up. No one really knew how to let go back then. God, I wished I spoke to her.”  
“Do you remember if you had classes with her?”  
“I most likely did, but I don’t remember, sadly.”  
Ruby stared up at the ceiling.

“I just want to find her,” Ruby’s voice hushed, “Or them.”  
“We will, Harris. Once you feel better, we’re going to help them.”  
Ruby nodded.

“I need to sleep.”  
“Then rest. I’ll be here when you wake up.”  



	8. Chapter 8

  Ruby woke up after what seemed like an hour. She hoped to be a little refreshed by the time she did, but instead she felt worse. The icepack was gone and she was still in Lapis’s office; only the table lamp was on, not the room light.

Lapis said that she would still be there by the time she woke up.

That bitch lied.

Ruby sat up and got up for a little stretching. They have been on this case for about three days and they are starting to become rancid to smell.

She went back to her office to see that they were still working.

“Hey, are you feeling better?” Lapis greeted the red girl with a smile.

“I guess,” Ruby said while rubbing one of her eyes, “We need to bathe, people.”  
“We do,” Jasper said, facing her, “But like you said, we need to get through this.”  
“We do, but our health matters too.” Ruby felt gross.

The three stayed quiet.

“Lazuli and Peridot keep working, while we go and shower,” Ruby said. She needed to be back home. Even just for a little bit.

Jasper grabbed her jacket that was resting on one of the other chairs in the room.

“I need to get home anyway,” Jasper huffed. She winked at Lapis, but Lapis didn’t give a shit.

“See you guys later, when we have to switch places.” Ruby followed Jasper.

  “Scott, why did you wink at Lazuli?” Ruby asked, once they were outside.

“I don’t know,” Jasper shrugged her shoulders, “Just something I did.”  
“I don’t think she’s interested in you.” Ruby deadpanned.

“At least I like people who are actually here,” Jasper said, rather harshly, “Unlike you, in love with _Sapphire Johnson_.”  
Ruby huffed and rolled her eyes, “What-the fuck-ever, Scott.”  
  Jasper had to drive Ruby home. They felt a little awful that they had to leave, but it started to become unbearable in the room.

“I can’t believe you knew her all this time, Harris.” Jasper broke the silence.

“I didn’t _know_ her, I went to school with her,” Ruby corrected.

“Yeah, but you’re super smart, I thought you had good memory.”  
“Yeah, because I want to remember the girl that was bullied for four years.”  
“It would have been helpful.” Jasper said.  
“How?”  
“I don’t know!” Jasper exclaimed, gripping tightly to the steering wheel.

“You’re just throwing sentences out, Scott.”

  Arriving to Ruby’s house, they said their goodbyes and she drove off.

Ruby’s house was generic. It was white, had grass, two-story, and had a brown roof.

She lived with the one and only Greg Universe. The old man himself, and little Steven, of course. She lived with them simply because her being alone is like a nightmare.

The sky was a mix of oranges, purples, and blues. Steven should be home.

She unlocked the front door and was greeted by the loud TV playing in the living room.

“Hey there!” Greg was sitting on the white-colored couch, his feet resting on the coffee table.

“Ruby!” Steven was next to Greg, his head poking above the couch.

“Hey, just coming for a second,” Ruby somewhat greeted back, “I’m a mess right now. I hope you don’t mind I just need to shower and then go back to work.”  
“What? You just got home, you gotta stay a lil bit.” Greg tried to convince.

“Pleeeeeeeeeease?” Steven moped. He had the pouty face.

“I’ll try to be quick so I can hang out with you guys.” Ruby ran upstairs.

  Ruby used to have this paranoia when she did shower or bathe. Just the thought of someone just might be watching her is quite terrifying. It still lingered, but she can’t care.

She has to grow up.

  Ruby had to dress a little more casual. Since she now only works on one case, she must dress for comfort now.

It was their office. FUCK IT.

She wore plain black jeans, a generic white t-shirt, and black shoes. Wow, you’re 25, Ruby, you dressing like you’re in high school. If, you know, you weren’t a giant nerd.

She brushed her teeth and mouthwashed, and went out. She grabbed her red beanie that didn’t match _anything,_ but red on her head has always been a thing.

She went back downstairs and saw the two still sitting on the couch.

“So, you were away for quite a while,” Greg said, once he saw the red woman come down again, “I guess something huge is happening at work?”  
“Yup,” Ruby lounged on the white one-seater couch that was next to the longer one, “Can’t talk about it, though. Not appropriate for lil Shtoo-ball here.”  
The show on TV was something about prison. How fitting.

Ruby had her mind stuck on this Sapphire-person.

Like, she didn’t remember if she had some importance to her. Maybe—

The doorbell rang.

  Ruby got up and answered. It was only Jasper. She also went casual. It was black jeans, a green shirt, and green shoes. Her hair was still up in a giant ponytail.

“Ready to go?” Jasper asked.

“Pretty much,” Ruby was about to leave until—

“Stay a little longer?” Steven begged. She felt his pout face and puppy-dog eyes boring into the back of her head.

“Just a little?” Ruby was uneasy, but she can’t deny it.

Jasper allowed herself in, which was a silent answer for “okay.”  
“Since we’re here, did you bring any high school memories with you?” Jasper stared down at Ruby, “You keep saying you went to school with her, so give me anything. Yearbook? Class photos? Anything?”  
“I don’t know, why would I want to relive it?” Ruby shrugged her shoulders.

Jasper just raised an eyebrow at her and then went upstairs.

  Ruby followed behind. She knew the tall bara-woman was heading to find her room.

“You should have something, you can’t hide from your past forever.” Jasper said, looking at one of the doors.

“I know, but—

“But nothing, so do you own 1 or 4 yearbooks?”  
Ruby stayed silent, until she cracked, “… 4.”  
Jasper snorted, “Dork.”  
Ruby felt like she was heating up.

  Jasper went into the most boring room aka Ruby’s room. There was a black/pink one and a galaxy-type one, so this must be her room.

Jasper started in the closet. The place had boxes in them. Bingo, searching to be made.

“This isn’t right,” Ruby protested, “You’re going through my stuff without my consent.”  
“That’s literally our job, Harris.” Jasper said with slight attitude.

Ruby crossed her arms and rested on the doorframe. She watched her boxes become stripped and empty.

First box: Nothing.

Second box: Nothing.

Third box: Shit.

Fourth box: FUCK.

Fifth box: _Bingo_.

“Aha!” Jasper grabbed one book, “HomeWorld High 2008!”

“My senior year.” Ruby said through her teeth.  
“Good, she’s definitely in here.” Jasper started to flip through pages.

Ruby was suddenly intrigued herself. She spent the entire time being all squeamish and salty, but she now wants to see for herself.

Jasper was sitting criss-cross on the floor, so Ruby followed.

Jasper was going through the senior pictures section.  
The guys were wearing suits and the girls were wearing this weird black thing that revealed their shoulders.

_Ruby Harris._

Jasper was holding in her giggles. She was actually wearing the suit. The hair. The smile. THE GLASSES.

“Nice photo, Harris,” Jasper had a wide smile plastered on.

“Just find her, you fucker.” Ruby lightly hit Jasper’s arm.

Jasper noticed the black circle and the drawn heart on Ruby’s picture, but she didn’t say anything of it.

_Jefferson_ _._

_Sarah Johnson._

_Anna Johnson._

_Sapphire Johnson._

  They found it. They found her.

She took her picture like everyone else did. She was happy. Her eyes were still not revealed, but she was smiling.

“So you’re not crazy,” Jasper stared at the picture.

“Who told you I was?”  
“Me,” Jasper replied, “To myself.”  
Jasper noticed that little-nerdy Ruby had autographs in her book. She went to those pages and the one she noticed first was the large one in red ink.

It read:

_“I hope you have both a good summer and that we keep in touch. I’m sorry that you were always surrounded by yelling. I’m glad we became friends this final year. Ya cutie patootie you.”_


	9. Chapter 9

  “You know that thing in yearbooks,” Jasper started, “When you get “Best Smile” or “Most likely to Succeed?’”

“Yeah?” Ruby knew. She was “Most Likely to survive an Apocalypse.”

“What was yours? Shortest memory?”

“That’s uncalled for,” Ruby felt slightly hurt.

“Well you do! You really did know her! You were friends! What fucked you up, Harris?”  
“I don’t remember!”  
“How badly did you want to suppress all this?” Jasper waved the book into Ruby’s face.

Ruby stayed silent.

“How awful was your high school years that you didn’t even want to remember anything?”  
“It wasn’t awful, I just… You know, you making fun of my picture kind of answered your question.”  
Jasper nodded. That was a dick move.

“But we’re bringing all these books,” Jasper grabbed ’07, ’06, and ’05, “Add more to the story. And _you,_ you’re going to grab for all your suppressed memories and have them help you.”  
Ruby huffed. That was going to be really difficult.

  As sad it was to leave, but Ruby promised to come back in at least two days.

  In the car, the yearbooks rested on Ruby’s lap.

Yup, memories. Ruby dreaded it, but apparently her and Sapphire were actually friends. 18-year old Ruby? Who was that?

  At the office, the place looked rather lonely. It was among other offices and other bigger companies, but this office that held four rooms, two bathrooms, and a break room was enough for this crew.

They went inside. The place looked the same as when they left.

“Gates, Lazuli!” Jasper called out, “Your turn to go home!”  
After a moment, the two came out the red girl’s office, looking close to zombies.

“What are those?” Lapis pointed at the books.

“Yearbooks,” Jasper replied, “Ruby knew her all this time. But she didn’t know either, which is some weird ass shit.”  
The two grumbled and then went out.

The two that just arrived went back into the room. More papers and more notes everywhere.

Ruby hasn’t taken the time to look through these papers, so she got some gloves and made them comfortable enough.

“I know for a fact that you have pictures or you have something else involved with Sapphire, I know it!” Jasper started to flip through pages of 2008.

Ruby would hit the shit out of herself, if it meant she’ll remember everything again.

She played the next one.

 

**“So, I haven’t gotten back to my job yet. I guess talking to my laptop is like talking to a friend. I was very unable to talk to my friends, or lack of. I feel sad that I can’t even get a job, but with hardly anyone around now, I have nothing to go to. I guess I have one, but she hasn’t come back yet. Called, text, ANYTHING, and there was nothing. I think I need to text all my past friends again or call them or something. Maybe they’ll answer?”**

  Jasper waved the book again and some papers fell out.

Jasper thought that was weird, but it was perfectly folded and perfectly obvious that they were old.

She then unfolded the first one, which was folded down and flat, some writing written on the outside.

She started to read it.

Jasper cleared her throat, “You need to help me. This is Trigonometry, of course you need help. Noooooo, with my prom dress! You know I don’t like dresses. Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeesase help?”  
Ruby wasn’t listening much, “I passed notes in class?”  
Jasper scoffed and opened the senior yearbook again. She checked Sapphire’s handwriting.

“Nope, this is some other chick you watched undress.”

Ruby just chewed her cheek. If a girl undressed in front of her, she _should_ remember.

She played the next one.

**“Day whatever, still haven’t gotten back to my job. I have now started to eat less, saving food and money. *sighs* I think a lot about before I got kicked out. People always say that high school will be the best four years of your life. That’s an opinion, of course, since mine was horrible. I’m surprised I made it through.”**  
  


“I can’t wait until she talks about you these logs,” Jasper said reading and comparing more words.

Jasper looked through the pages and found one piece of lined paper that was _covered_ in words in black ink.

Jasper compared the writing. _God Harris, you need a check-up on that brain of yours._

Jasper cleared her throat and read it outloud:  
_“So this is so cheesy and stuff, but you just happen to leave your desk, so I can put this on your desk. I sit in the front row on the right, which is the loser seat. I think you would know me right away if I told you that I get bullied a lot. I always see you with robots in hand and that’s honestly really cool. I also think that you’re really cute and that your glasses add a ton to the cuteness factor. I wanted to REALLY say it to you in person, but that’s hard. Maybe you hate me? Call me a slut and a whore and maybe even a bimbo. But, I just wanted to get this off my chest since its now hard to talk to people. But, I totally understand why you wouldn’t want to talk to me.”  
_ That was Sapphire’s half.

Ruby listened closely, trying to figure out when exactly this happened.

Jasper continued with the other half:  
_“Yes, you’re Sapphire. It’s not cheesy, it’s fine. That’s not the loser seat, it’s closer to the door. It’s the WINNER SEAT—_

Jasper snorted loudly and burst into laughter.

Ruby feared this.

“Sorry!” Jasper laughed more.

While laughing:  
_“I do know that you get bullied a lot and that’s really shitty. I haven’t listened much to things like that. Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeah, robotics geek. It’s cool that YOU think it’s cool. I’m flattered by your compliments to me, I always stare at the back of your head, which sounds weird, I know, but I’ve seen your face once in a while, and you’re cute too. I don’t have any reason to hate you. Fuck those people. I have never called you that. And let’s talk. Meet me by room S-1. Let’s become friends.”_  
“You stud,” Jasper joked, “You even flirt and you’re a giant nerd.”  
Ruby was getting even more fucked up, because she forgot all this. She forgot how her high school years went by and how she made it by like the speed of light.

Ruby wrote in her notebook.

_We were best friends._

_Maybe we could have been more._

_What’s wrong with me?_

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hoped you enjoy. I was really tired and sleepy, but once I write, I’m in the fucking zone, you know?
> 
> Once start, can’t stop.
> 
> Review and shit.


	10. Chapter 10

  Lapis and Peridot came back. Now dressed more casual and comfortable, in Ruby’s office, surrounding her.

“So you don’t remember anything?” Lapis asked.

“Nothing! I thought I was just suppressing them, but I didn’t remember her until I heard her name and what she’s been through.” Ruby slumped in her seat.

“What a weird brain you got,” Peridot poked at the red girl’s head.

“Gates is right, maybe you should go to a doctor,” Jasper suggested.

Ruby sighed. She hated doctors, she didn’t understand why, she just hated them with a deep passion.

“So Ruby, we’ll take care of it here,” Jasper persuaded, “You go to the doctor.”  
“Wha—

“No,” Lapis then pulled Ruby and took her to the door, “Just go and see what’s wrong. I’m sure you’re fine, but just go check, okay?”  
Ruby nodded and slowly left the office.

  She was sitting in the car, wondering where to actually go.

She looked in the glove box, maybe something about a hospital just might be in there.

She then checked her phone. Maybe a number she never paid attention to?

Well, she could’ve found Sapphire’s number, but it wasn’t there. Of course, it wouldn’t be that easy.

She remembered having 4 books, but didn’t know they were actually at home.

She remembered _her,_ but she didn’t remember their relation.

She remembered everything else, but not specifically her.

What’s going on?

She saw one name.

_Dr. Maheswaran._

She gulped. Sure it said doctor, but just maybe?

She clicked the name. Hearing a ringing.

She sat in silence, until—

“Hello, Maheswaran Hospital, how may I help you?”

“Um, may I speak to Dr. Maheswaran, please?”  
“One moment please.”  
Ruby listened to the smooth jazz it switched to when she was put on hold.

“Speaking with Dr. Maheswaran, how may I help you?”

It was a woman’s voice.

Ruby licked her lips, “I’m Ruby Harris and I was wondering to come?”  
“Oh! Yes, anytime if fine, Ms. Harris. It’s been a long time.”  
Long time?

“Okay?”  
Then it hung up.

Ruby had to look up wherever this place is. How did she know?

  The building looked exactly how a hospital looked like. She owned this?

She got out her car and locked it.

Ruby awkwardly went inside through the sliding glass doors.

There was a woman secretary.

“Welcome to Maheswaran Hospital.”  
“Hi,” Ruby went up to the counter, “Dr. Maheswaran said I can come see her anytime?”  
“Oh I see, you can go to her office down that hall.” She pointed behind her, to her right.

“Thank you.”  
  Ruby walked down the hall. Staring at white walls; the other corridor are for patients.

She looked at the strange names on every plaque she walked by. She was at the end of the hall.

_Dr. Maheswaran MD PHD._

She knocked on the door.

“Come in!” She heard through the door. She was shaking, her hand could barely stay still. It caused the knob to make rattling noises.

She poked her head in. A woman with dark brown skin, long brown hair, and was writing on some papers. She seems to look like she was in for mid-forties?

“Oh! Ruby Harris! It’s been forever!” She got up and greeted with a smile.

Oh, well, for me, it has been never.

“I… Huh?” Ruby was just confused.

“Are you feeling okay?” Dr. Maheswaran then had a concerned look.

“Um, no,” Ruby answered honestly, “I don’t even remember, well, anything.”  
“How old are you now, Ruby?”  
“Um, 25?”  
She got up, fixed her long, white coat, and said, “May I run some tests?”  
  After a series of tests and a long talk, Ruby listened intently.

“Injury?” Ruby asked once more.

“Yes, traumatic and near-death hits to your skull.” Dr. Maheswaran explained, while looking through a folder, “This is yours. It’s been in here, in case you came back.”  
“So I don’t remember much of my high school years and middle school… and a little bit of elementary. I don’t actually remember anything.”  
“What do you remember?”  
“What I studied in university. My parents. The people I live and work with. Sapphire…”  
“Sapphire?” Dr. Maheswaran looked up from her papers.

“Um, Sapphire Johnson, someone who is missing.”  
“Oh, I remember.” The doctor said with a slight smile, “She came here to see you, she was smiling so happily, but she left in tears.”  
In tears?

“When did this, you know, trauma happen?”  
“Some time during 2008… November 14.”  
Ruby stayed quiet.  
Dr. Maheswaran continued, “Around the time this Johnson girl came for some other treatments, but you came here sometimes to shadow surgeons or be there for her. She was coming here for 4 years prior. Then for another year, but then she kind of just stopped. She went missing?”  
“Yeah, we’re working on it. Did we ever do anything?”  
“You and her?”  
“If you remember.”  
“Well, you came here as her friend, but I saw the way you looked at her.”

“Any particular reason why she came here?”  
“Rape kits,” She answered, getting another folder, “And just to make sure she’s still in good and healthy condition. We don’t blame her.”  
“But you,” She kept going, “Bullying. You got nearly killed because of Ms. Johnson.”  
Ruby gulped, her throat was dry and she was trying not to shake in her seat.

“Luckily, your parents let me know the whole story. We’re all family, Ms. Harris.”  
“So, will you tell me everything?”  
“Of course,” Dr. Maheswaran sat down again, “It’s strange that everyone knows your life story, but you yourself don’t.”  
  The story was that her and Sapphire were friends right at the beginning of the 07-08 school year. It took three years for Sapphire to finally say _something_ to little-nerd Ruby. How she would bring Sapphire home when Sapphire was too scared to walk home; which was all the time. How before her mom and dad went on about how cute it is to finally see Ruby hanging out with someone so often to Dr. Maheswaran herself. They hung out all the time and then it slowly became more and more. They didn’t do it so physically, but it was mostly with longing looks and smiles at each other; thanks mom and dad, how observant of you.

  Ruby sat there.

“That’s about it, Ruby,” Dr. Maheswaran said, “That’s all I was told.”

“Thank you, Dr. M,” Ruby smiled, “Some weight has been lifted off.”  
“You’re welcome. Maybe you should go see your parents and talk to them. Maybe your teachers as well, if you can figure them out.”  
Ruby stood up, said thank you again and left the office.

She went back to her car, where she sat in for a moment.

She felt her phone vibrate.  
“Hello?” She answered it.

“Are you okay?” It was Lapis’s voice.  
“I think so,” Ruby guessed, “I need to go see some people. It’ll help with the case.”  
“Oh sure,” Lapis said slightly cheerfully, “Anything will help at this point.”  
“Yeah, I’ll see you in a bit.”

  Ruby started the car.

Brain trauma. Amnesia.

  Sapphire must’ve thought and still thinks that this is all her fault. She probably thinks that she should’ve never spoken to her. Or when she came to the hospital, and she then left sadly. How did she react that caused Sapphire to leave? Did Ruby go to school and treated her like everyone else did?

  Ruby needed answers. And it’s hidden.

Even in her own mind.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I need to remind that everything I type is from the top of my head. I don’t plan beforehand. But I can tell you that Ruby being forgetful was never a thing. Until now.
> 
> Review and shit.


	11. Chapter 11

  Ruby decided to drive to some people she hasn’t seen in a while. Her parents.

They are definitely still in the same house. She was an only child, which is quite lonely. Maybe that’s why they were happy that she brought Sapphire home?

The house was outside the city. In the Keystone State.

She checked the gas. It was good enough for this trip; she’ll get it later.

  There was little-to-no traffic and she was thankful for that. She wondered how the case back at the office was doing.

She felt her phone vibrate; she’ll check it later.

  Her heart raced as she got closer and closer to her parents’ home. It was a brown one, it was small, but it was home. She parked in their driveway.

She was just as shaky as she was when she went to the doctor’s. It was her parents and they knew something.

She rang the doorbell. The chime was loud enough to be heard from outside.

There was two locks on the door; she heard both unlock and open.

A man with dark red skin and what seems to be his black pajama outfit. Classic dad, they always got to match. He was wearing black-framed glasses and had a bushy mustache.  
“There’s my baby girl!” He was ecstatic, “Back from good ol’ Delmarva!”  
He pulled Ruby into a hug. Well, at least he’s happy.

“What brings you back here?” He asked with a smile.

“I have some questions about Sapphire—

“You remembered her?” He had a now surprised look.

“No, dad, she’s missing. May I come in?”  
“Absolutely.”  
  The house looked exactly like how she left it. Just brown everything. With the occasional black-and-white.

She sat at the kitchen table, which had the same flowery design mats on top from last visit.

“What ya wanna know?” He sat across.

“Well, what happened to me on the date November 14, 2008?”  
He stayed quiet for a second and sighed.

“You were starting college and you weren’t home a lot. This Sapphire was always out your mouth every chance you could get. She was great and we didn’t mind it. But…”  
He stopped, trying to get it out.

Ruby patiently waited.

“You were jumped by a bunch of hooligans and we couldn’t even see you at the hospital and we waited for _so_ long. When we did, it’s been more than a day and we were sleepy, but you were still out. After what felt like an eternity, you did wake up, but… you were so different. It’s like you went back to how you were as a child. Stubborn, always annoyed by everything, and hated change. When Sapphire decided to come, you basically screamed for her to leave. How you didn’t know her. You didn’t want her there. And you called her a “stupid face.’”

Ruby couldn’t believe at some point she did that. She _screamed_ for her to be gone. She didn’t want to believe it, but she had to.

“The poor girl was heartbroken and you didn’t want to get to know her. You just screamed and was just a child again.”

“Who were the people that did—

“Well, I forgot their names, but they were identified as kids who actually went to your high school and they waited for… something.”  
Ruby nodded. It’s slowly coming together, all she has to do is pray that Sapphire is still alive at the moment.

“Did Sapphire and I ever, like… date?” Ruby asked, really wondering.

Her dad just gave her a strange look, “No, you wouldn’t hide that from us, Ruby.”

“What do you mean?”  
“If you were with her, then great! She’s a great girl! Your mother and I have been fighting over this.”  
Ruby was just confused, “You had wars with mom about me and Sapphire?”  
“Yeah, what do kids call it nowadays?” He put his finger on his chin, “‘Shipping wars?’”

“Dad stop—

“Sorry, but how’s her case? Gettin anything?”  
“Slowly, but now that I’m learning about myself, this should help! Are you sure we didn’t date?”  
“I’m sure, you weren’t a liar, Ruby. Not then, not now.”

“Why didn’t you tell me all that then?”

“You are never home and we were never able to say. And you were so stubborn, you didn’t want to listen to us.”  
Ruby nodded. She was still in shock.  
“You haven’t destroyed my room, right?” She continued.  
“Of course not,” he says, knocking on the table, “We wouldn’t change it for the world.”  
  Of course, high school Ruby is all in there. She will finally learn herself and find out who she is. The room was nearby in the small house, the door that had posters and drawings on it.

She walked in and the room was lit by the sun outside; the window was wide-open. Some space posters, _Star Wars_ posters, _Transformers_ posters, models of robots on the floor, and the plain bed and black TV on opposite sides of the room. The closet was open, clothes and more boxes and a backpack.  
She looked around and just like what Jasper did, you have to dig around. She started to do so. She started with her backpack.

It was filled with a binder and lined-paper. Some of it had notes of it, one was a conversation.

_Want to hang out after school?_

**OF COURSE! Is that what a date is?**

_Haha, maybe! If you want it to be._

**I WOULD LOVE TO TAKE YOU ON A DATE!**

Ruby had almost a disgusted-look on her face. Her memory has failed her, so she must text the crew back at the office to judge the writing.

But she knows, for a FACT, that the annoying and giant writing was her own.

She pulled out her phone, finally noticing the text from when she was driving.

It was from Lapis.

She said:

_She talked about you in her log. Come back when you can. It’s bookmarked so you can listen to it._

Me?

  She text back that she needs a picture of Sapphire’s handwriting.

  She dug some more into the bag, only to find more folded papers. She unfolded one:  
_Don’t worry._

**But I want to.**

_You’re amazing! You’ll win that contest for sure!_

**My heart is about to explode.**

_I’ll be there for you. I’ll try, at least._

**That would be nice of you.**

  Nothing important here.

She unfolded another:

**Hey, want to hang at my place and watch a movie? I got _Charlie’s Angels!_**

_Sure! I’ve always wanted to watch it._

**Is it a date?**

_Yes yes, it’s a date._ There was an emoji by this sentence.

**YES!**

  How thirsty was Ruby for this girl?

There was _a lot_ more, so she tidied them up and put them in a neat stack.

She looked through more of the bag. Pencils, erasers, sticky notes, a calculator, a phone—

A phone?

She pulled out the blue flip-phone. It’s basically dead, so she put that to the side as well. Maybe some more evidence?

She cleaned out the bag and nothing else that peaks some type of evidence.

  She pulled the brown box that didn’t have any name on the side to indicate what can be in this box.

She opened it.

More fucking paper. Fucking great.

And a shirt actually. It was black shirt, it had Stars Wars print on the front. It was definitely Ruby’s shirt.

There was a sticky note.

 _Thanks for letting me use this shirt to sleep. Your mom offered me a ride, so sorry I wasn’t there when you woke up!  
_ What?

She looked at the papers. It was a lot more writing, Ruby noticed it was in her writing.

**Hey Sapphire,**

**I totally think you’re cute and stuff.**

**And we got closer**

**And stuff**

  Then it was crossed out.

She grabbed another paper.

**HEY HEY HEY SAFFY!**

**Let’s go back to my place and like, eat Chinese takeout**

  This was also crossed out.

Then another:

**Um, hey Saffy,**

**I just wanted to say that you’re honestly the most beautiful girl I ever met and I really hope you**

Crossed out again.

  AND ANOTHER:

**Laffy Saffy,**

**Can we talk?**

  It wasn’t crossed out this time.

This is the one 17 or 18 year old Ruby chose?

There was still more paper. It was a different kind of lined-paper compared to Ruby’s.

_Dear Ruby_

  Already crossed out.

Another:  
_Hey Rube,_

_There’s something I always wanted to tell you_

  Crossed out again.

Another:

_I really like you and think about kissing you a lot. Your stupidly cute face and your nerdy glasses!_

It stopped there.

Okay then.

She put all the stuff back in the box, orderly, and ready to take back to the office. She checked more of her room. Her bedside table was basically full of nothing. More pens and more pencils.

She had to dig through another box.

This one was more messed up in a sense that it has dents and it was dirtier and it has a name on the side.

“Photos”  
  Well, maybe old Ruby was into using an instant camera.

Or Sapphire.

Or her mom.

OR HER DAD.

  “Dad!” Ruby called.

“Yuuuuup?’ She heard quick footsteps.

“Do you know what kind of pictures are in this box?” She asked, not looking behind her.

She heard a drawn-out hum.

“Maybe prints from when you were little, but that’s about it, I think?” There was finally an answer.

She still opened it.

It was albums upon albums. They are had titles on all of them.

“Ruby’s First Years”

“Our Trip to New York”

“We Went to California!”

“Our First Month”  
First month?

  She looked behind her to see her dad was gone.

She opened the book.

Pictures of a certain red and blue figures were in every picture.

One was at home, resting in Ruby’s plain bed, the blue was sleeping, red looked, well, redder.

One was of the TV, their legs resting on a rather close coffee table, with their food sitting on their laps, the TV was playing _Charlie’s Angels._

One was them kissing. The blue looked calm and her eyes closed and the red’s eyes were wide and shocked.

Well, Ruby is a liar.

She grabbed at the one of them kissing and turned the picture, now the back facing up.

_Happy First Month Cutie Patootie._

_I’m sorry that you deal with all the yelling surrounding us._

  She was entranced by this particular picture. She even touched her own lips with her free hand.

You aren’t a liar, Ruby. Tell him.

“Dad!” Ruby got up, still holding the picture in her hand.


	12. Chapter 12

  Ruby wasn’t nervous at all. She had no clue how long this was able to last before the incident, but she was at least proud of 17/18 year old Ruby for lasting a month.

“Yuuuuuup?” Her dad answered from the living room, watching _Pawn Stars._

“You said I wasn’t a liar,” Ruby reminded.

“That’s the truth,” He added.

“No, dad,” She showed the picture, “I was quite the sneaky liar.”  
He wasn’t really shocked, he just smiled, “Your mother owns me 20 dollars now.”  
“Dad, please—

“I’m sorry!” He has a really hardy, dad-laugh. “But, take all that stuff if you need to, honey. I’ll help you put it in your car.”  
“Thanks,” Ruby smiled, “Anything helps at this point, really.”

  Now she was sitting in her car. She already figured out that the handwriting was indeed Sapphire’s.  
She started the car.

Well, gas is low.

  Now at the gas station, she was putting 30 dollars worth into the car. She checked her phone again.

It was only a picture of the sample she needed before.

She text back that she already knows.

She was getting ready for her next stop: HomeWorld High.

She doesn’t remember anything of that school, other than that she and Sapphire went there.

It was years ago, but she still hoped that her teachers were still the same. 2008 isn’t that far, right?

  She got back into her car. She read the past texts to remind herself that she had a voice log waiting for her back at the office. She switched the app to the GPS.

  On her drive, it was almost calming. Her heart ached at this point for this girl, but she was happy for a slight moment.

  She found the school. The school colors were red-and-white. The mascots were the Crystal Gems.

She went through the office.

To the secretary, she had to explain that she was a detective and that she was here to find Sapphire Johnson’s classes. She showed her badge and everything.

She was given a sticker to show that she was a visitor.

She didn’t know which classes to go to and class was actually in-session, so she could walk in, ask if they had Sapphire as a student, and then leave if they did not.

Well, this is going to be either awkward or just rude of her to walk in.

Time to knock on every door.

  She was doing so in every classroom. She was knocking on every door, disrupting class, and asking in every class.

From class E to class W. Those other letters were offices or labs.

The first one was of Mr. Anderson.

She asked him to stay after school, wanting to question if he remembered Sapphire.

Mr. Haywood. Ms. Rummler. Ms. Howard. Mrs. Martinez. Mr. Marillo. Mr. Carlson. Mrs. Padilla. Mr. Garcia. Mrs. Michaelson. Ms. Kassabaum. Mr. Fischbach. Mr. MacDonald. Mrs. Lorena. Mrs. Castillo. Mr. Kjellberg. Mr. Kenshin. Mrs. Jackson.

  Some of them were doubled and she was heading to the career center to meet them all.

Mr. Fischbach, Mr. Kjellberg, and Mr. Kenshin actually recognized her, so she guessed that’s where her and Sapphire actually had classes together.

She actually passed some posters on the way there.

NO BULLYING.

HOMEWORLD HIGH IS A BULLY-FREE ZONE.

THIS IS A SAFE PLACE.

  Well, those shouldn’t be around that much, you think?

  In the career center, it was more like a computer lab, with desktop computers surrounding every wall and some taking up the middle of the room.

She was at the front of the room. There was more “bully-free zone” posters and other motivational posters. It was after school, so the teachers started to slowly pour in and sit at wherever there was a good place to.

Once every teacher was there, so started:

“So, as a few of you may know, I am Ruby Harris. I went here back in 2008. All of you had Sapphire Johnson, which might be why these posters are up everywhere.”  
She pointed to the anti-bullying posters.

Ruby continued, “I don’t know if any of you watch the news, but she has gone missing. We’ve been investigating this for quite a few days now. Her job can’t be spoken of, but it can be researched in-depth to the point that we might find her sooner than you think… However, I only have one question for all of you.”  
She paused, for dramatic effect.

“What did you think of her?” Ruby asked, “As her teachers, and the bullying she had to go through and it just wouldn’t stop. What is your opinion?”  
Some of the teachers shifted uncomfortably in their seats.

Oh?

One-by-one, they say their honest opinion. Some said she was great and didn’t deserve it. Some couldn’t even get words out.

“I hope you don’t have the same security out there, because they need to be fired.” Ruby crossed her arms, looking at the crowd before her.

“We shouldn’t by now,” Mr. Fischbach added, pushing up his glasses.

“Good, but if you do, get them fired,” Ruby said, very directly, “And you guys are alright. She didn’t ask for any of your guys help, right?”  
They all shook their head.

“You guys are fine,” Ruby nodded her head. Now she was quiet.

“You guys didn’t have shipping wars, right?” She asked. She was still weirded out by her dad.

Some looked confused; some just shook their head again.  
“One more question.” Ruby said. “What was I like when I was a student here? I just learned that I nearly died and lost most of my memories, so I’m trying to know more of myself along the way.”  
The teachers that actually knew her were devastated. Then the three teachers who did started to explain what she was like in her high school.

Determined, energetic, accepting, never afraid to say anything in front of class, straight-A student.

Ruby sure wished she actually knew this person. She didn’t remember when she went back to “normal,” but she sort of hated it.

The saddest part?

Sapphire could’ve been okay.

Jasper said she might have fallen for someone who could be dead out there.

But really?

She already did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I dunno, not good, but not terrible.
> 
> Review and shit.


	13. Chapter 13

  After a little while longer of searching around the school and talking to teachers she assumed she had back in school, it’s time to head back to the car. She wrote down everything she said and heard from here and noted all the bullying posters taped up.

The passenger seat and two of the back seats were filled with the boxes and the backpack she founded at her home.

Where to next?

Well, if Sapphire’s parents were accessible to her, she would go there, but how exactly? A phone book?

  She drove back to the office. Her radio was playing OMI, she wasn’t into it, but she tolerated it.

She parked outside the office; near the door. She got out and locked her door, first needing help with the items.

She walked in and heard talking.

Yup, those are definitely still them.

Lapis poked her head out from Ruby’s office room, “Harris, you’re back! Did everything go okay?”  
“I think so,” Ruby replied, rubbing the back of her neck, “I learn a lot about myself.”

“That’s good!” Lapis said going down the hall.

“But I need help getting some stuff out the car. Just more on Sapphire and me.”  
“Oh good! Let me help then.”  
  All the stuff was placed in the office on the table, one of the chairs, and the floor. Ruby started with the photo album.

Lapis was looking through it with her gloved hands.

“This is so cute,” she said with an endearing smile.

She kept turning page-upon-page of the album.

“So what is this log you said?” Ruby asked.

Peridot was at the laptop.

“Oh yeah!” Lapis then placed the book on the table and got up from the chair, “Peridot, move!”  
Peridot tried to rush, but then Lapis grabbed her shoulder and then she was pulled to the floor. She sat into the office chair and cracked her knuckles. She had to find it again.

Once she did:  


**“*sighs* I love day offs. I may have my one TV, but that’s lonely, you know? Being stuck in silence makes you remember stuff. Like… my ex? I don’t know what the hell we are at this point, but… I miss her. Everyday. She didn’t care about what happened to me before and never did she once call me a “whore” or a “slut” like everyone else did. She said I was cute and that we should be friends. She took me to her house, because she was afraid of my safety. Her parents liked me. I liked her. A lot. *giggles* She was so dorky and probably liked robots more than me, but… When everyone made me feel like I was nothing… She made me feel like I was everything. Her everything. I remember when I told her that she treated me like a princess. But then she said, “Only a princess?? A beautiful girl like you deserves to be treated like a queen.” And that… made me feel like maybe life isn’t as messed up as I thought it was. I’m glad she was here. We were able to make it to about 5 months, but I… I think it was all my fault. She nearly died because of me. I started this job while we were dating and I was going to tell her. *sighs* What would she think? We were probably going to break up otherwise. I’m too pathetic to be with her.”**  
  


  Then, it stopped.

That broke Ruby’s heart. Not good enough. She made her feel like she was everything. They were together for 5 months until she lost her memories.

“Ruby?” Lapis said, worriedly.

“Let’s get to work, team.” Ruby said seriously.

“But, Ruby, tell us about—

“No time,” Ruby interrupted the blue woman, “Give me the laptop. We’re finding her.”

Don’t worry, Sapphire.

Just a little while longer.


	14. Chapter 14

  _18 year old Sapphire Johnson was in Ruby’s galaxy-like room. She was wearing the other’s black Star Wars shirt and sitting criss-cross. It was nighttime outside and she was tired. 18 year old Ruby walks in again, wearing grey sweatpants and a white t-shirt._

_“Hey there,” Ruby climbed onto the bed. The bed had a black blanket._

_“Hi,” Sapphire said with a big grin._

_Ruby was saying goodbye to her parents, who were going on a dinner date that night._

_It was cutely awkward between the two. It wasn’t because Sapphire was wearing her shirt and pretty much nothing else, or Ruby’s giant glasses were falling off her face. They just took tiny glances at each other and smiled._

_The room was brightly-lit. The TV was playing Rush Hour. Rush Hour marathon; the third one came out only a year ago._

_Sapphire’s lap was hiding under the blanket._

_Ruby’s heart raced._

_“Sapphire, can we talk?” Ruby tried not to sound so nervous.  
“Sure,” Sapphire nodded, “Something on your mind?”_

_“Yeah,” Ruby shifted to face the blue girl, “I want to confess something.”_  
Sapphire faced towards the red girl, grabbing her hands. The red girl’s palms were sweating and she can tell that her chest is heaving up and down.  
“Laffy Saffy,” Ruby started, “I just wanted to say that you… You make me happy! And I’m glad you left that note on my desk!”  
Sapphire smiled and nodded, allowing the red girl to talk.

_Ruby took a deep breath._

_“This is so weird, I never had to do this before.” Ruby tried hard to keep eye contact. The girl’s eyes were revealed. Her left eye was a stunning blue color. Her right one was white. She explained before that she was born blind in that eye._

_She was still smiling. Genuine. Happy. Waiting._

_“This is hard,” Ruby had an embarrassed smile, “I really wanted to be manly about this.”  
Sapphire moved her hands up the other’s arms and now pulling the red girl closer. Her arms now around the other’s neck._

_Ruby didn’t know what to do with her hands now, since they’re now empty. Now that the blue girl was really close, her hands went to her sides._

_“I really like you, Saffy,” Ruby managed to say. “I really want to kiss you too.”  
Ruby still had a smile, trying not to make it awkward._

_Sapphire giggled, “Kiss me then.”  
“What?!”_

_“Come on, lover girl, pucker up!” Sapphire joked._

_Ruby shut her eyes tightly and her lips puckered out._

  Sapphire was stuck in the dark. No clothes, no light, her mouth stuffed on a ball gag and her arms and legs were bounded by duct tape.

She was stuck with no food and stuck with her thoughts of the past.

Her eyes adjusted to the darkness. There were other girls in the room with her, possibly dying or waiting for a rescue that might never come.

Sapphire’s breathing was uneven.

Maybe she’ll die here.

But as long as Ruby was okay, somewhere out there.

She’s ready to die.

  Back at the office, Ruby and Jasper were working together while Lapis and Peridot talked outside the office room. Jasper was just writing on the board and Ruby was writing in her notebook.

“I didn’t get married just so you can still pretend to be “okay,’” That was Peridot’s voice.

What?

“I know, and I’m sorry,” Lapis’s voice.  
Jasper wasn’t shocked. She was hitting on the blue woman, but where the fuck is your wedding ring?

The two look at each other and stayed silent, wanting to listen.

“I’m sorry I pushed you to the ground,” Lapis’s voice.  
“Eh whatever,” Peridot let that go quite well, “I’m used to you pushing me into things.”  
“Shut up, we’re at work.”  
Ruby and Jasper were now uncomfortable. Those two fuckers were married the entire time and they didn’t say shit about it.

Ruby thought they actually hated each other.

Ruby just went back to the logs.

The logs have been not of work. Some of them were work, but most were her talking to herself.

They were still in 2009. 4/23/09

**“I like to get away and just think, you know? But, there is a point in time where I need to stop thinking for a second. Because you can go nuts being stuck alone for so long. I know you wouldn’t like me talking about my ex, so we’re not getting into that. Maybe someday, though. *sipping noises* As much as it wastes my electricity, I like my TV on at all times. Since all my friends decided to leave, I now only have me, myself, and I. I miss when I watched all these movies with… Goddammit, Saffy, stop. She doesn’t even know you.”**  
  


  Ruby just nodded. She was going to crack eventually, but she just wrote more.

Jasper sat down, “I’m sorry I made fun of your picture.”  
“It’s fine,” Ruby said, “I see why you would.”  
“But, what happened at the doctor’s?”  
“Well, I got jumped by a bunch of guys and they nearly killed me and that caused me to get amnesia. So I don’t know how I exactly I became who I am today, but I now know more of what happened before.”  
“That makes more sense,” Jasper said, then searching the backpack.

“Yeah,” Ruby grabbed the “first month” album.

She had to look through it again.

So 17/18 year old Ruby didn’t tell her parents about dating her in the first place. Why?

“So how are we going to charge this thing?” Jasper found the phone.  
Ruby searched the backpack. Since it was in her bag, she must have the charger in there too.

And she was right.

“Damn, too bad you didn’t have a nicer phone. I want to know if nerdy Ruby got nudes from Johnson.”  
“God, fuck off, Scott,” Ruby grumbled.  
She plugged in the phone, and the other side plugged into an available socket into the wall.

“Now we wait,” Ruby said, “Where’s Lazuli and Gates?”  
“Wait, isn’t it technically Lapis Gates?”  
“I don’t know,” Ruby shrugged her shoulders, “But let’s pretend that we never heard that.”  
Jasper got up from her seat, “Play the next one.”  
Ruby did so.

 

 **“Another day of no work. I think I can manage, though. I can eat tomorrow, before I really do work. I guess I’ll say some more things on the beforetime. I guess I always left home early, because of my reasons. *sighs* This always leads back to her. But I might as well accept it. I always had a crush on her and it was so weird because she was always disappearing and always had robots in her hand, but it was cute. I always play scenarios in my head and I couldn’t even talk to her. It really sucked. Oh well, I think I might as well end it here.”**  
  


  Ruby didn’t write much. She wished to rush through all the logs and just _know_ where she is.

They were only in 2009.

What are the chances of her being alive now?


	15. Chapter 15

Ruby and Lapis joined forces while Jasper and Peridot go out to some locations. Ruby just got done telling the other about her doctor appointment, her visit to her parents, and her school.  
“Wow, you must be happier now that you finally have answers to even yourself,” Lapis said as she looked through Ruby’s notes.

Lapis continued, “Peridot said before that she has seen Sapphire somewhere before, but she doesn’t remember.”  
“She’ll remember it eventually,” Ruby looked at the laptop, “Maybe Sapphire will talk about it in her logs.”  
“Maybe, but we have long ways,” Lapis placed some papers onto the desk, “I’m going out to get food. Do you want anything?”  
“Totally, I’m in the mood for _Subway_ ,” Ruby said.  
“Sure, I’ll just order one for all of us,” Lapis nodded, “What do you want?”  
“Just a Meatball Marinara. Don’t add anything.”  
“Noted,” Lapis then left.

Ruby was now left alone in her office. Stuck with what could’ve been.

She looked at the normal picture of Sapphire on the wall.

18 year old Ruby must’ve been in love with her. Did she have plans on November 14, 2008? Was she going to see Sapphire that day?

Who knows.

Ruby got up. She had to get another laptop. To search something else.

Sapphire said when you’re alone, you start to think about the past.

Ruby couldn’t really agree.

She had to look at the news, maybe a map of Delmarva and see any suspicious and empty places.

Start with the obvious places, then work your way up to the crazy places.

Ruby searched the news of Sapphire.  
It was brand new.

Missing Woman

 _“25-year-old Sapphire Johnson went missing on_ _October 2, 2015_ _.”_ That was the first line.

It has been quite a few days since this October 2nd. But this was up just today. You’d think they would report it earlier than that.

Ruby had to look for information on “The Invisible Rapist” that was mentioned.

There wasn’t much to it. He really was nowhere to be found.

She read more to the news article.

 _“It is unknown where she was last seen and heard, but if you have seen this woman, call this number.”  
_ Nobody at all?

And more information on her and her home and that’s it.

She is just a person trying to get by, which is why there isn’t much to this article.

Ruby sighed.

That was disappointing.

She closed the laptop. She got up again. The phone book was always delivered to the office, but they always throw it away.

It was just resting near the front door.

She grabbed the large, yellow book that was wrapped in plastic from the floor.

She brought it inside.

As she read the book, she listened to more logs.

 

**“** **10:07 PM**

**Client bumrush21 requested that I wear an orange sweater, wear my fake glasses I took from the movie theaters and recite Velma’s lines from Scooby-Doo. So, this is what I do when I took a week off. He was talking like Shaggy and he was with a friend and he just masturbated along. I didn’t do anything sexual, I just sat there, saying Scooby-Doo lines, and watching 2 men masturbate together. Guys always insult homosexuality, but what the hell is this?**

**10:17 PM** **10 minutes.”**  
  


  Wow, that’s the latest one yet. Ruby chuckled slightly. How exactly do people get fetishes in the first place?

She read through the book, reading through every J name. Which didn’t help. No wonder you through them out. She kept the book anyway.

She listened to another.

 

**“It’s after the Scooby-Doo session. That was interesting. I…**

It was quiet. Ruby was intrigued and she listened closer.

 

**“There’s someone outside… *sounds of her closing all her blinds* *quick footsteps* *door closing and locking sound* Oh god… *heavy breathing* Please, god please, don’t come near… *sniffling*…**

  It was then her crying and sniffling.

Ruby stopped it and played the next one.

 

 **“I’m definitely staying inside. It’s the next day, if you don’t know. My blinds are still closed and I think I’m leaving them closed. I locked my door, but I don’t have a weapon. I don’t think I can work or even go outside anymore. But I have to work. I have to eat. I have to go out. I can’t even look out the window. I have my phone, but what good will that do?”**  
  


  Ruby herself was scared. It was only 2009! This guy tormented her way before. He planned it all out.

She wrote down:

_Next victim since 2008._

_Didn’t kidnap until recently._

She played the next one.

**“*ringing* *ringing* *ringing* “911, what is your emergency?”**

  It sounded far and it was on speaker.

**  
My name is Sapphire Johnson and I’m reporting a man outside my house.**

**“What’s going on where you are?”**

**He’s just standing outside. He’s across the street, but he’s looking at me I know it.**

**“Ms. Johnson, I want you to go and make sure everything is locked.”**

***loud and fast footsteps***

**He’s still outside.**

**“Ma’am, what’s your address?”**

**8351 Chille Tid Ave.**

**“I want you to stay calm. Help is on the way.”  
I… I…**

**“What’s happening, ma’am?”  
He’s at my window. He has his forehead against the glass.**

It was quiet.

 

***quick footsteps* I’m standing far from my window.**

**“Ma’am, I need you to calm down—**

***crying and sniffling***

**“Ma’am?”**  
I’m sorry, please hurry…”  
“They’re on their way, ma’am.”

**I…**

**“Ma’am?”  
He’s shaking his head… He’s saying no… He can hear me…**

***banging noises***

***screaming***

**WHAT DO YOU WANT?!**

***banging gets louder and louder***

**“Ma’am—**

  The next part was muffled, but Ruby tried to understand.

 

***more banging and a gun shot***

***heavy breathing getting closer***

  Then it ended. Ruby had a shocked look.  
“Harris, I’m back!” It was Lapis’s voice.

Ruby cleared her throat and wrote into her notebook:

_HURRY UP._


	16. Chapter 16

  Ruby was pacing back and forth as she listened to the log once again.

Jasper and Peridot came back and Lapis was sitting in the office chair.

After the log has ended, Jasper spoke:  
“We need to find her.”

“I know! But we can’t rush!” Ruby was infuriated by that fact. “I decided on this profession because I want to save people! I don’t want to shoot anyone just to save another! I don’t want to feel like a person’s death was all on me! But… I feel like that’s the case now…”  
“Harris…” Lapis got up to hug the short girl.  
“I want to save her…” Ruby’s heart felt crushed. Suffocated.

“We all do, and we will.” Lapis wiped away the other’s tears.

“Scott, Gates, did you guys find anything on your trip to the barn you were talking about?” Lapis turned to the orange and green.

They looked for some suspicious places. And they just happen to find a sketchy barn.

“We did actually.” Jasper said, “Gates, show them.”  
Peridot had a professional camera slung around her neck. She turned it on, faced the screen to the other women and showed them pictures of the place.

Part of it was burned down, some of it was broken. Close-up on the barn door, the chain keeping it closed is really rusty.

“We got in through the side,” Jasper said, “It was covered in really rusty sheets of metal.”  
The next was the interior. Ropes and stacks of hays are everywhere. There’s a tractor in the corner of the barn. It was definitely under than them.

Then it was a picture of a hatch. In the floor.

It was definitely in better condition than the entire barn.

It was long and silver. It basically looked brand new.

“The entire thing is metal and the lock was brand new.” Jasper explained onward.

“We all need to go there, team,” Ruby said, “We’re not going to miss a thing.”  
“But first,” Lapis grabbed the four bags of Subway sandwiches from the table, “We need to eat.”  
  Sapphire was still in the room. It has been so quiet that her ears started to ring. The other women in the room, there was one that she can tell she was at least 12 years old, were all asleep. They were able to get away from this living nightmare, even for a little moment. Sapphire was never able to sleep. The only time she did was when her turn from harsh pain and endless raping actually came to an end. The unknown man made her eat from a bowl like a dog and watched others go through this pain too. She was hopeless and didn’t expect anyone to come so soon.

Everyone wanted her dead anyway.

She was actually enjoying the ringing in her ears. It was better than hearing cries, slapping, and cracking. She was glad nobody has had any body parts broken or taken off yet.

Her eyes were getting heavy.

Well, maybe a little rest.

_It was officially one month since Ruby and Sapphire was secretly dating._ _July 14, 2008_ _._

_Sapphire stayed over at Ruby’s place, of course. Sapphire was wearing tight, blue jeans and a plain black t-shirt. Her shoes were taken off since she was sitting on Ruby’s black bed._

_Ruby was busy putting on a movie for them to watch._

_Sapphire always loved watching movies with that dork. Always tried to make her happy._

_The movie was called Showgirls. From 1995._

_Ruby got on the bed once it started. She tried to make her outfit match the other, but her shirt was a black polo from Lacoste._

_Sapphire wasn’t familiar with this movie._

_She held the other’s hand._

_The movie itself was pretty erotic. Ruby was never one to get ladyboners, but when your girlfriend is next to you and a sex scene come on, you can’t help but feel some type of way.  
Ruby can tell that her glasses were fogging up._

_“Are you okay?” Sapphire was facing the sweating girl._

_“Y-yeah,” Ruby nodded. Her hand was all sweaty._

_Sapphire couldn’t lie, she was feeling some type of way too, but this was going to be her first real time._

_Ruby really wanted to do it, but it was up to Sapphire._

_On the movie, there’s a lap dance scene between the main character and her lover._

_Sapphire decided to do something similar, but maybe dancing is a stretch._

_Ruby was chuckling, nervously, “You seem confident.”_

_“Well, I’ve done some mock lap dances in my time.” Sapphire joked. Because she was so small, she can sit on everyone’s lap. But she moved a lot. Hence, “mock lap dances.”_

_Sapphire kissed the sweating and awkward nerd._

_Ruby was so sweaty, her glasses were slipping off her face._

_It was how they normally kissed. Deeply, one of them had their hands on their cheeks and the other on either hips or back._

_Ruby’s favorite placement was on the other’s hips._

_She felt Sapphire’s smile against her lips._

_Ruby loved that feeling; pulling the girl closer._

_The mood was still there._

_But, maybe another day._


	17. Chapter 17

Ruby was in her office, after finishing her Subway lunch. She was still contemplating and reflecting on the last log. If this was in 2009, she didn’t want to know what the very last log on this was.

She put on a new pair of plastic gloves and really wanted to listen to more, but she feels like she couldn’t do this alone anymore.  
She wanted to, but Jasper walked in.

“Hey Harris,” Jasper greeted, “You okay? You seem a little pale.”  
“Yeah, I wanted to listen to more, but I don’t think I can take it right now.” Ruby replied. Her hands on her knees, trying to keep her legs from shaking.  
“Well, we can take a break from the logs,” Jasper said, placing her hands on the table, “We’re heading back to the barn. We’re going to break open that giant hatch.”  
“It would be nice to get away for a little bit.” Ruby stood up from her office chair, “Are we going right now.”  
“Yeah, let’s go.”  
  They occupied the black car. Peridot was looking through the pictures again in the passenger. Lapis was holding a flashlight, checking to see if it worked. Jasper was driving and focusing entirely on the road. Ruby was sitting in her seat, couldn’t stop moving around, and trying to find a comfortable place in the slightly claustrophobic car.

  At the barn, which was after an hour of being in the car. The four women got out of the car. They weren’t dressed to be detectives, but they were going to detect the shit out of this place.

“Show us the entrance,” Ruby said, staring up at the brown, beat-up, barn.

Jasper was getting some metal cutter type device out of the trunk.

She closes it, “Follow me.”  
They went to the left side of the barn. It was a clutter of haystacks and some tumbleweeds. There was a fence that was close to it, surprisingly close, but they didn’t think much of it.

There was giant sheets of rusty metal against the barn wall. Jasper simply moved it to reveal an opening. It was dark in there. Very eerie and spooky.

There was spiderwebs having from the top, which accessible through some ladders. There were some boxes and more haystacks inside. In the far corner, there was the red tractor from the pictures.

Ruby looked around. This place had to be older than she is.

Jasper led them to the very far corner. The opposite side of the barn.

It was daylight outside, but the inside was worse with the small spurts of light was coming from the outside.

Arriving to the opposite side, there it was. The large, brand-new looking hatch that was casually on the ground. Out of place of everything surrounding.

Jasper was about to break the lock until they all noticed it.

It wasn’t locked.                                                                                                                      

“It was locked last time,” Jasper said, “I swear to you, Harris. This was locked earlier.”  
Ruby was scared. Maybe they’re about to catch the kidnapper _right now._

They were not cops, but Jasper may be able to apprehend.

Jasper had her hands covered in the stretchy plastic gloves and used all her might to open the large thing.

And it was a lot stranger than it could have been.

It had to stairs within it. It led downwards and somewhere unknown, but they had to go down there.

Peridot took a picture. The flash was on.

Jasper then went down. Lapis had to stay behind and watch their backs so they won’t get attacked or anything.

Ruby was ready for anything, she had to be. She’ll be damned if she can’t save Sapphire.

After the long flight of stairs, it led down a hall. At the end of it, there was a safe door. A door like that is only for holding money in it.

It was huge. On the side, there was a numpad.

Ruby had to be the one to investigate. Miss never misses a spot.

“Some of the numbers are faded out,” Ruby said.

Numbers 2, 9, 7, and 3 were different compared to the other numbers.

“It could be any combination,” Jasper said, slightly angered.

Ruby had to look harder.

She pressed in the order:

9,

3,

7,

2,

“I thought that only worked in the movies,” Ruby said, feeling proud.

Jasper grabbed the door and opened it for everyone.

They were welcomed by shelves of… food. And water.

They saw it was packed and ready for survival. Peridot took more pictures. The flash now off.

“Apocalypse shelter?” Jasper questioned. She kept a tight hold on her tool.

Despite the food and water and some medical kits, it led to more. Much more. It was open and it was so bright and white.

There were cabinets and tables taking up both sides of the giant room.

Ready to be searched.

Ruby didn’t know where to start.

Jasper went to the cabinets on the left. Peridot went to the tables on the right. Ruby checked behind her and Lapis was looking at the supply.

Hey cabinets, whatcha hidin?

  Ruby walked towards Jasper’s side.

She looked in with Jasper as she opened it.

Just books. With names on the side?

Renee

Kimi? Ruby grabbed that book right away.

She broke it open.

Lewd ones.

A blue girl tied with rope all around her body. No way of getting out. She was on focus. Her mouth covered in cloth and she was biting it. In the background, blurry and unfocused, a figure. Naked, holding her down.

It was rape.

Right in front of their eyes.

There was more cabinets. Which is the most terrifying part yet.

“These are drugs,” Peridot said, not realizing what’s happening, “Numbing and paralysis…”  
Jasper gulped and went to open the next one.

Tapes. VHS tapes.

Ruby was still looking at pictures.

One was a POV, looking down at her. The man’s penis in her mouth. Her eyes full of tears and sorrow.

One with two men in it. Her arms tied behind her back and her mouth had a circle object in it. Designed to keep it wide-open.

Ruby threw the book onto the table in disgust.

“Uh… Ruby?” Jasper was hushed, “You may want to look at this.”  
Ruby was too scared to, but she must.

She looked.

Even more than the books. They had the same names on them.

  Ruby shook her head and covered her mouth. Feeling really sick to her stomach. Kimi had the most. _Sapphire had the most._

She felt faint and then it all went black.

  Somewhere else, it was in a fucked up neighborhood. Some no one even _dared_ rolling through in their cars. In a rundown house, lived one.

In one simple door, there they were. There they all were.

Behind the door, led to some stairs.

Creaking, old stairs.

It led to multiple doors.

10 to be exact.

And that’s where they all were.

Some as young as 5.

Some as old as 50.

And Sapphire was just one of many.


	18. Chapter 18

Back at the office, the three women had to take Ruby back after collapsing in the white room. Jasper already called in the police officers about the place.

  Lapis watched over the younger woman. Placing an icepack over the other’s forehead; she was really heating up.

“Gates and I will keep listening to the logs,” Jasper said, “You stay here and watch her.”  
“Yes, ma’am,” Lapis said as she slightly pressed the icepack on Ruby’s forehead.

  Jasper walked back to Ruby’s office, which was on the opposite side of the building. There really wasn’t much to the place itself. They just know that they are on the lowest floor. The walls were plain, with the occasional paintings of plants or some fake plants sitting on the floor. Everything else above them is almost a mystery.  
“Gates, let’s get started,” Jasper said, cracking her knuckles and sitting on Ruby’s somewhat small office chair.

“I know you were listening to our conversation,” Peridot says, facing the board, “Never hit on my wife ever again.”  
“Sorry,” Jasper cleared her throat. “Where’s your ring then?”  
“I don’t want to wear it. I can push people _like you_ off her.”  
“Are you kidding me?”  
Peridot said she can push off that 6-foot tall, very muscular woman.

“With words!” Peridot saved her statement.

“That did not help, Gates,” Jasper said with a mocking tone.

Jasper then played the next one:

 

 **“I don’t feel safe anymore. But I have to. I have no one to go to, so I have to convince myself every single day, for the rest of my life, that I’m going to be okay. It was easier back then.”**  
  


  Short, but it was a harsh reality.

Peridot wrote it down, as did Jasper in the notebook.  
She played the next one:

 

**“Day 1 of trying to feel safe. I lost the will to open my blinds ever again and if I waste my money for electricity, then so be it. I took the liberty of bringing in some food and water for a little bit. But that’s about it. I guess I’ll continue with my stories of my one and only past love of mine. She wore these giant grandpa glasses and always refused using her contacts. Her hair was always frizzy and out of control. You know, unkempt and untamed. She was a _huge_ movie fan. She’s more of comedic-action or old school. She was so much nicer past her angry and scrunched up face. I feel bad I had a side... you know, while we were together, but she literally only came here once. I’m pretty sure I caught me and her in one of these logs, actually. The love of my life at the time. That was embarrassing. But I can assure you that side-girl only came here once and never came back again. The other came here later on in the day, usually. But now I have no one. And that really sucks.”**

Jasper was shocked. She never forgot that log. It was literal porn. And knowing it was her partner-in-crime the whole time made it even better.  
“Is it considered cheating if you had a side hoe?” Jasper asked.

“Never had one, so I don’t know.”  
“Do you think Harris will mind?”  
“Honestly, I don’t know.”  
Jasper _had_ to play the next one.

 

 **“Day 2. I still have some food and water enough for a few more days. I forgot to say that** _yes_ , she did know about the side chick. I told my girlfriend at the time that I wanted to “try to create a porn” with her, but she declined. She, strangely, let me have at least one night with someone else. It made me excited, but she was such a possessive person, so it was out of place. I asked her, “why?” She said, “As much as I love you, I don’t own you. I love to have sex with you, absolutely, but once couldn’t hurt, right?” It was weird, but I did it once. I guess all that girl will ever be is a side. She was a part of my work. I knew her for a little bit, but we never really spoke again. I don’t think I’ll do it again, though.”  
  


  Jasper was just in awe. She was loving this. Ruby never fully had Sapphire to herself, but Ruby was quite open about it, which really was weird.

“Gates, I’m going to listen to the other one again!” Jasper said, happily.

“Don’t waste my time, you horndog!” Peridot pointed her marker at the other.

They heard grumbling, then there she was, Ruby herself.

“Oh, my god, Harris, you _have_ to listen to these!”  
Ruby was still groggy, but she understood, “Why?”  
“You were open, Harris!” Jasper was _way_ too giddy. “Like, you let Sapphire fuck someone else once!”  
Ruby didn’t really give a shit.

She let her own girlfriend fuck someone else, under her permission. Cool.

“I let her, is that what you’re saying?”  
Jasper nodded.

“Okay, I let her, it’s not cheating.” Ruby sat down in one of her chairs.  
“You’re taking that a lot easier than I thought.” Peridot said, with a little suspicion.

“Well, if you’re telling me I let her do it, then whatever.”  
Peridot and Jasper looked at each other, looked at Ruby, and then went to work again.

 

Sapphire was now awake in the cell room. The other girls are still asleep and it was still pitch black. Her ears still rang and her mouth was still filled with a ball gag. She was stuck with her thoughts once again. 

_“Ruby, I…” Sapphire was under the red girl, one hand in the other’s mane, the other gripping and looked like she can pretty much rip the black shirt. She let out a moan, after feeling the other’s lips on her neck and jaw. American Beauty isn’t really a movie to get into the mood to, but hey, sex is cool._

_Ruby’s hands were under Sapphire’s loose grey sweater and going upwards. Sapphire’s heart was about to burst. You know, 2 months isn’t long, but it was long enough._

_“J-just let me know if I’m going too fast or… something…” Obviously nervous, Ruby lifted the grey sweater. More and more blue skin being revealed, the two was slowly smiling bigger and bigger as it happened. The two were in Ruby’s house once again, and her parents went out to a work party. Sapphire’s legs were around Ruby’s waist and Ruby was shakily trying to take off the other’s clothes. Her bra was plain black and it was one of those bras that actually clipped on the front. Sapphire’s chest went up and down, breathing hard._

_“Are you okay?” Ruby pushed up her glasses._

_Sapphire nodded with a smile. She was ready._

_Ruby gulped and didn’t know what to do next._

_Well, thought Ruby, I guess I can—_

_Ruby reached for the clip that was in the middle, but Sapphire did it for her._

_It caused Ruby to stare. Sapphire grabbed the nervous girl’s hand and placed it on one of her breasts._

_It felt soft and it felt different compared to feeling her own._

_Why does she feel her own?_

_You can figure it out._

_Ruby could see Sapphire getting goosebumps on her skin and seeing slight discomfort. Ruby kissed the other’s plump lips. Placing her other hand on the other breast, now legs wrapping tighter._

_Do you know how awkward it is doing this with no background noises?_

_Sapphire’s fingers lingered at the end of Ruby’s shirt._

_The blue girl was wearing black shorts, so it should be easy to get those off, right?_

_“Saffy…” Ruby said, pulling away and kissing downwards along her neck and chest._

_Sapphire’s legs wouldn’t unravel._

_Ruby was kind of in an uncomfortable position._

_But she had to continue._

_Her hand traced down the middle of the other’s body. Placing tender kisses on her neck and lips._

_Ruby’s fingertips were at the waistline of the shorts and slowly, but surely, let her hand go under the fabric._

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed my attempt. It was bad, I know.
> 
> Review and shit.


	19. Chapter 19

  In the stuffy office, they all sat in Ruby’s.  
“So, glitter, creepy ass apocalypse bunker, camgirl logs, and now we have one book and tape here.” Jasper said, looking at the 2 items on the table.

Thanks to Officer Garnet.

“It’s what they assumed was the most recent tape.” Jasper said, grabbing the black box-object with her gloved-hand, “And this book was on the table at the place. From Harris.”  
“We’re not going to watch this, Scott,” Ruby protested, “Let alone look at the pictures.”

“We won’t, we know what’s in here already.” Jasper said, placing the tape down again.

“However,” Jasper went to the blue flip phone, “This is still a mystery.”  
They have completely forgotten about it charging there.

Jasper unplugged it and handed it to Ruby.

Ruby just stared at the thing.

She uses a much fancier, touchscreen phone now. This was almost like rocket science.

She flipped it open. Not really much of a surprise, the background was her and Sapphire. How did they manage to take that?

It was confusing. There was a phone icon, an envelope, and a weird middle button.

She was staring at the screen.

A message saying how this phone no longer has a provider or something like that pops up.

“This thing still has a SIM card and everything.” Ruby cocked her head.

“Did you decide on getting a whole new phone or something?” Peridot scratched her head.

“Like I remember.”  
Ruby clicked a button and it went to her messages.  
Jenny.

Sour Cream.

Who are these people?

And a heart-looking thing next to her name.

Ruby saw the date she last sent a text.

11/14/08

She had to look.

 _I can’t wait to see you!  
_ It had From: Saffy on the top.

She flipped the phone closed and put into onto the table.

  “We continue with the logs,” she continued, “So, Ruby, the honors.”  
Ruby got up and sat in the office chair.

“I want to know her situation with you and her, though.” Jasper said, “More of them.”  
“Me too, actually,” Ruby agreed. Ruby checked the transcripts. There weren’t anymore until the next year.  
She plays the next one:

 

**“I guess at this point I could just say her name. What’s the point of being indirect? It’s not like anyone will hear these. *sighs* Her name was Ruby Harris. I wish to this day that we were still together, but what could I do? Her brown-framed grandpa glasses were cute, her curly afro, especially when she pulled it back into what I called a bunny’s tail, was everything, her thoughtfulness was _even more_ amazing, the fact that all she ever wanted was me being safe and me being happy was the greatest feeling I’ve ever had. I think at some point, I fell in love with her, but I couldn’t say it so soon. So yes, in one of my logs, literally a day after me and side-chick did it, we were back to how we were. I know I said that I loved it and wanted more, but Ruby gave me love for what could’ve been an eternity. And the other just gave me one night. What would she think of me now? Would she love me for my honesty? I don’t know, I will never know. Dating was hard enough. Even having friends was hard. But I must say, she was great as both. I can’t believe that she even wrote back to me. *sighs* If only I can go back.”**

  Then it ended.

Ruby saw that’s how she looked in some of the pictures.

Huh, bunny tail, it really did look like that.

“Fucking finally,” Jasper said, standing next to Peridot, facing the board.

“Team, the logs won’t return to her work ones until next year.”  
“Good, I don’t want to hear that anyway.” Peridot said, writing on the board.

_Confidence-something she does NOT have._

She played the next one:  


**“Day 4. I like to believe that, somewhere in the future, that we might meet again. And I have to pretend that we never knew each other. It’s kind of like having a new start, in a really messed up way. But at least I get to see her again. I actually went out today. I got food. And more water. I felt unsafe walking to the store, but at least I get to live a little longer. Now to shower. *sighs*”**  
  


  Ruby hated listening to that one. That could’ve happen. But, she’s learning about everything again and Sapphire wouldn’t have to do that.

It was quiet in the room.

Ruby grabbed the album again.

She looked at every picture. One at a time.

Don’t worry, Sapphire.

Let’s fall in love again someday.


	20. Chapter 20

  The team of four went through the logs. One would go get food for the others; mostly Lapis.

Eventually, the logs went back to how they were.

Sapphire talked sometimes, saying how she was okay and slowly becoming less paranoid. Ruby was grateful for that.

But they were far from the answer. They needed the proof. They needed _everything_ just so they can have every mean that this man or men will get what they deserve.

They got a bunker, which they need to investigate for fingerprints, and hope to god there’s any, but the house was spotless, chances are, there will be none.

 “You guys still need to go on a road trip,” Ruby said, directed to Jasper and Peridot.

“Yes, ma’am,” Jasper said, rereading the board.

“Lapis and I will stay here and do these logs, right?” Ruby said, taking off her beanie.

“Right,” Lapis nodded, yawning after.

It was now in 2010. Sapphire went on and on about Ruby most of 2009, directly and indirectly.

“Or,” Lapis said, perking up, “We can go back to the bunker, Harris. We can look for footprints, since you’re very attentive.”  
“I guess that’s a good start.” Ruby stood up from her office chair. “Let’s go, team.”

  Ruby drove while Lapis sat shotgun.  
“Did you fall in love with her?” Lapis asked, suddenly.

“What?” Ruby was slightly taken aback.

“Even though we’re investigating her case and we don’t know if she’s alive, but… Did listening to all the things she said make you love her again?”  
“I don’t know how to answer that, Lazuli.” Ruby answered, simply. “Ask me again when we find her.”  
  At the barn, there were police cars surrounding and police tape; just like at Sapphire’s home.

And there they are.

Officer Garnet, Pearl, and Amethyst. There’s no way they can’t catch this guy now, right?

“Hello officers,” Lapis said as she got out the car, “Miller, Everhart, Wheeler.”  
“Hello detectives,” Garnet greeted, “Ready to find some fingerprints?”  
“Yes, ma’am,” Lapis nodded her head.

After going under the yellow tape, they went in, but Ruby was further behind.

She had to take deep breaths and continuously tell herself that she’ll be okay.

Lapis was already at the stairs.

Ruby kept feeling like throwing up in that very spot.  
“You don’t have to, Harris,” Lapis said, “I’ll be sure to get every detail.”  
“I can do it,” Ruby protested.

“Are you sure?”  
“100 percent.”  
  Now in the white bunker, Lapis started her search, using powder and a brush to find them, and some clear tape, just in case she does find something.

Ruby did the same process.

  1. Powder
  2. Brush
  3. Tape  
But they haven’t found anything yet.



It was quiet where they were and what they were doing.

Ruby stared down at the syringes and small bottles of liquids on the table. She dusted everything and not a single spot.

You’d think there’s _at least_ something.

“Damn, nothing,” Lapis said as she double-checked.

Ruby had a queasy, almost aggravating feeling stuck in her stomach that she wanted out.

“Let’s go, Lazuli.” Ruby huffed.

“But, Harris—

“ _Let’s. Go._ ”

  The ride back was tense. Lapis sat in the passenger seat, uncomfortable and wanted to say something, but nothing came to mind.

  They were back at the office. Ruby was still distant and did not want to acknowledge Lapis.

“Harris, you can’t be so serious. You have to relax.”  
Ruby still didn’t listen.

She instead sat down in her black office chair, putting on plastic gloves, and turned on the laptop. Lapis stared at the whiteboard.

Numerous amounts of usernames, details of Sapphire, and possible ideas of who the guy or guys could be.  
Ruby played the next one.

1/1/10

 

 **“So I celebrated New Year’s by myself. I guess watching all those people in** **New York City** **made me feel better. So many happy faces and people proposing and seeing celebrities performing is quite an indirect adrenaline rush. I still have my blinds closed. I’ll go outside tomorrow.”**  
  


Ruby cleared her throat and played the next one.

And the next.

And the next.

And the next.

And the next.

And the next.

And the next.

She was very out-of-character.  
“Harris, slow down—

“Don’t tell me to slow down! I want to find her! You don’t have to be here! I can do this!”  
The girl was losing her mind.

Her dream was to save lives. Her dream was to not keep people waiting for happiness.

Ruby held her head, feeling a thumping pulse.  
“Harris, you need to rest.” Lapis said, in the calmest voice possible.

Ruby had her eyes closed, hands to her head, and her breathing was heaving and trying to catch up.  
Suddenly, Lapis’s phone goes off.

She felt bad for having to leave Ruby for a second, but she checked it.

It was Peridot.

“Gates, what’s up?” Lapis said, her back towards the red girl.

“We might be onto something, Lapis.” She heard.

“What makes you so sure?”  
“Um…”

  On Peridot’s side, she was staring at a rundown, fucked up house.

Jasper was in shock as she looked at the house, which is super sketchy-looking.

A white van, huh?

A brown house with all the blinds closed and what looks like 10 locks on the door.

“Just a feeling.” Peridot finally said.

  Behind the door, lived one.

Behind one specific door, there they all were.  
Unaware that their rescue was outside.

And peeking through the blinds, there he was.


	21. Chapter 21

  Ruby was suddenly energetic, but she stayed behind as Lapis left to the destination she was told. Lapis told Ruby the destination too, just in case she wants to be there.

Ruby felt the sudden urge to go to the _very last log._

It was only in 2010.  
She couldn’t take it anymore and then she clicked the last one.

8/2/15

 

**“*banging noises***

***banging noises getting louder***

***hearing breaking and crashing*  
*Sapphire screaming***

**WHY ARE YOU HERE?!  
WHY ARE—**

***muffled noises***

***Sapphire’s muffled cries start*”**

  That was the first half.

Ruby felt that queasy and she had to skip through.

 

**“*drilling noises***

***banging noises***

**Where should this door go?”**

Ruby knew for a fact that it was a man’s voice.

 

**“In the van. We’re replacing this door.  
*Ruffled and brushing noises***

***banging noises*  
Hey, be careful with that. You wouldn’t want anyone to hear us.**

**Sorry, sir.”**

Two men.

They changed her door, so they wouldn’t catch them.

No one heard this happen?

 

**“*more drilling noises***

***brushing noises*”**

  Startling Ruby, her phone went off.

She paused the log.

  On the other side, Jasper was holding a green jacket. It had the very important specks they look for.

Peridot was on the phone.

“Hello?” Ruby’s voice can be heard.

“Harris,” Peridot started, “There’s green jacket in the trash can. It has the same red glitter from the laptop and the house.”  
It was quiet on Ruby’s side.

“I listened to last log.” Ruby admitted.

“What did it have?”  
“The men broke her door and kidnapped her. They then fixed the door, even talking to each other.”  
“We’re calling in the police. We’re surrounding this house. We’re getting this guy. Listen to the rest of that log and come here, this will end.”  
She hung up.  
  Ruby saw that the log went on for hours.

She listened to more.

 

**“We’re never going to get caught.**

**I’m not invisible for nothing, kid.**

**God, she’s such a fucking slut.**

**I can’t wait to fuck her.**

**And film it!**

**Yes, kid, and film it.”**  
  


  After that, there’s just brushing. Some footsteps, and then silence.

Ruby skipped it to very last moments.

It was Peridot’s voice.

 

 **“A laptop. We’re taking this back to work.”**  
  


One click, it was over.

Ruby was shocked.

This is it.

Ruby stood up, grabbed the one picture of her and Sapphire kissing, and headed out.  
  Ruby’s breath was uneven and palms were sweaty.

This is it.

Ruby didn’t even care that she was speeding and looked angry.  
She huffed, she looked at the pictures that she placed on the dashboard.  
Don’t worry, Sapphire.

You’re coming home.  
  By the time Ruby got to the house. It was dark outside.

The one house was surrounded by cars, policemen and women with guns ready, even a helicopter outside.

There were people and newsreporters were outside. More police people were holding the people back.  
Ruby got out her car, readying her badge.

Jasper, Peridot, and Lapis were on the inside of the police barrier.  
“Excuse me, you can’t—

“Detective Harris, I’m here with them.”

She was let in and Jasper was standing at the door.

Ruby walked up to Peridot, “This ends now.”  
“There’s police on the other side, too.” Peridot answered, “No way he or they can get out.”  
Some policemen went to Jasper’s side. The 7-foot tall woman was enough to take them down.

She had a bulletproof vest on.

The policemen were covered in protection and holding their guns.  
Lights from the policecars and the helicopter from above are eerie, but this is what everyone has been waiting for.

The people are ready to find out who The Invisible Rapist is.

Ruby’s breath was still not even.  
The green-and-blue women went somewhere safer, hiding behind a police car, and Ruby followed.  
Jasper started to kick the door.

The door may have 10 locks, but that won’t stop Jasper from kicking the door down. She was using all her might to get the door.

The door went down in a slam. Ruby watched with wide eyes as Jasper ran inside, the men following behind.

Gunshots, some men fell down, red pools getting bigger and bigger. People gasped as this happens.  
The policemen and women were readying their guns and aims.

The detectives covered their ears, readying for shots to be fired.

Ruby’s heart raced.

This is the first time she’s been at a shooting.

“GET THE FUCK DOWN, YOU SICK FUCKER!” It was Jasper’s voice.

Ruby looked, with one eye shut.

Jasper was somewhat bloody and holding her arm, her green shirt and orange skin covered in red.

Her foot was placed on the man’s head that was even more covered in the red streams. His hair was white and his face in the dirt. He was left in only boxers and his hands were already in the handcuffs.  
More policemen came out, they were guiding another man out, his yellow dreads covering his eyes and he was fully-clothed, unlike the older man. His arms were behind his back and he was at gunpoint.  
“HARRIS, GATES, LAZULI, GO!” Jasper yelled, telling them to go inside.

The three ran, three policewomen following behind.

“Officer Miller!” Lapis saw it was the tall woman at her side.

“We’re doing this together, Lazuli! We’re taking those girls home!” Garnet said, readying her gun as they ran. Ruby instantly saw that there was… nothing.

She started to feel the wall.

The other two detectives did the same.

Peridot found a doorknob on the table.

What the—

Ruby then touched a different part of the wall. It was paper and it was made to look like the rest of the walls in the house.

She started to rip it apart.

Peridot and Lapis followed behind.

Ruby was out of breath was the clean, white door was revealed. It didn’t match with the brown and decaying walls.

  Behind the door, down the stairs, and in a door labeled “10,” Sapphire was resting with a five-year-old girl, who was crying and needed her attention.  
The place was soundproof. They don’t know that they’ll be saved at that very moment.

  Ruby grabbed the doorknob that Peridot held onto and placed it in the empty socket. She turned it and the door open, looking down at the dark abyss.

Light switch.

Lapis and Peridot took out their flashlights. It was now bright enough.  
At the bottom of the stairs, and at the end of the long hall of doors, stood a red door.

It was labeled “The Red Room.”

Ruby wasn’t ready for that yet.

She looked at the door labeled “1.”  
It was locked by a metal flipper that guarantees that whoever is inside of it can’t push the door to just get out.

 There was a padlock on the flipper.

Each door was closed this way.  
“Get the metal cutter.” Ruby requested to Peridot.

Peridot ran back out.

Ruby had her hands on the lock.

This is it.

Ruby knows that Sapphire is in one of these rooms.  
Peridot came back with the large tool and gave it to Ruby.

Since Ruby was full of anger, excitement, and rush, she goes through the padlock in a flash.

Flipping the metal bar and pulling the door, she stared down at all the women who looked back.

Some of them are so skinny that their ribs were distinct and noticeable first glance. Some had blue-and-black skin marks and red slashes.

“You guys get them out,” Ruby turned to girls inside, “We’re saving you girls, don’t be scared!”

Ruby started to break the doors and the officers called in more police men and the paramedics to get them out.

Ruby huffed as she got to Door “10.”

She hasn’t seen the blue woman in the past rooms, this has to be the one.

She used the last of her strength to open the last door.

She pulls it open.

This is it.

The blue woman, with the little girl.

Ruby said the same phrase, saying she’s rescue. It made Sapphire sit up right away.  
This is it.

Ruby took the liberty of carrying Sapphire herself.  
She watched the other policemen carry the fragile women and girls out of the room.

Ruby looked down at the blue woman.

This is really it.

  Outside, lots of ambulances and police on the premise.

  The Red Room was hard for Ruby to look. But when she did. They were readying to make another video. A snuff film. They were able to save the women before they even had a chance to kill any of them.

  The man was sent away, along with his partner, now the rescuers, police, and detectives were there. The news people were there too, covering their “breaking news” story.  
Ruby was on the side, really not wanting to get interviewed.

“Um, thank you,” Ruby heard from her right side.  
It was Sapphire, holding tightly to the long towel wrap she has been giving. She avoiding eye contact and Ruby guessed she must still think she doesn’t know who she is.

Ruby smiled, “You’re welcome, Laffy Saffy.”  
The blue woman’s eyes widen.

“Doing this case, I finally remember everything.” Ruby said as she reached into her backpocket of her pants, revealing the picture she brought with her, “We met in high school. We were together for 5 months. You always called me cute every chance you have. And I know for a fact that on November 14, 2008, 18-year-old me was going to tell you I love you. I went through everything and I remember who you are.”  
Sapphire’s eyes started to water up and her lips curved in a smile.

“So, Miss Sapphire Johnson,” Ruby cleared her throat and started to talk in a formal voice, “Would you care for a Chinese takeout date with Netflix once you recover?”

Sapphire couldn’t even choke out the words.

She nodded her head. Causing Ruby to let out a goofy smile and rubbing the back of her neck.

Let’s fall in love all over again.


	22. Epilogue

  It was Monday morning.

Work time, Harris.

Ruby woke up, her windows were open and the sun has barely come up.

The thing that woke her up was her alarm clock.  
In her arms, was a certain blue beauty who was still sleeping.

She kissed the other’s forehead and slowly and carefully get her arm from under the other’s weight.

She got up and wanted to get some coffee. She placed her thick-rimmed black glasses on her face.

She yawned and stretched, wearing just her blue plaid boxers and a black sports bra.

She tended to drink coffee once she gets to work, but instant-coffee is enough for the drive. But, breakfast for Sapphire is a must.

She was drinking out of a cup with writing on it that says “Greatest girlfriend ever.”  
It has been about 5 years since Ruby has found Sapphire. They have been together after a million dates that had to do with Netflix and Disneyland.

And maybe Comicon.

Ruby walked back into the master bedroom that the two shared.

They are both 30 years old now, probably around the age where people are already married.

Ruby haven’t exactly found the “perfect and magical” moment yet.

The red woman’s hair was tied back into the “bunny tail” that Sapphire still loves to call.

She sat on her bed, her back towards the blue.  
Ruby pushed her glasses on her face once in a while.

Suddenly, she felt kisses on the back of her neck. She had chills down her spine, but they were good chills.  
“Good morning, beautiful,” Ruby greeted with a smile. She placed her mug on the table and got in bed again.  
Sapphire was covering herself shoulders down with the large purple blanket.

She has never seen such a wide smile on the girl’s face.

“Ready to save lives once again?” Sapphire asked.  
“Yes, ma’am,” Ruby affirmed.  
There was a comfortable silence between the two.

Sapphire spent quite some time in silence, but when Ruby is there, the silence was beautiful.

“Listen, Sapphire,” Ruby started, “There’s something I really wanted to tell you.”  
She got up and went through more of her dresser drawers.

“Or,” Ruby rethought her statement, “Ask you.”  
Sapphire sat up, holding the blanket to her chest.  
The little black box in Ruby’s hand and behind her back, she got back on the bed again.

“I could’ve went for cliché dinner date and star gaze, but this feels right.” Ruby made eye contact.

Sapphire felt her heart race for miles.

“I love you, Sapphire,” Ruby stated, “And being able to finally remember everything we’ve been through has been the greatest thing to ever happen. Taking you to my parents was always hilarious, I know, but they love you. Coming home to you everyday from work always makes my heart melt, seeing you smile. Finally having a home to ourselves and not with Greg and Steven. Love… _every night—_

Sapphire playfully punched the other’s arm. But she was still smiling.

“I mean,” Ruby chuckled, “every day and your kisses and those loving cuddles. And, I will now, by the way, make you eggs and bacon, smiling bacon, of course, and eating Chinese takeout later. And I really want to do this with you, for the rest of our lives. Together.”  
  Sapphire gulped, holding back tears. Her smile getting bigger.

“I always want to celebrate your birthday, January 27. I always want to spend our anniversary, every month on the 14th. I always want to see you every morning when I wake up. I always want to kiss your lips. Cuddle with you at home during cold winters and go to the beach with you on hot summers. I want to spend everyday of my life with you, for the very rest. So, will you, Sapphire Kimi Johnson…”  
  Ruby revealed the little box. And flipping open the lid, the white gold-colored ring and the giant red jewel sat atop. She was saving up just for this.

“Will you marry me?”

Sapphire’s lip quivered, unable to get an answer out. All she did was stare down at the ring. She put a hand over her mouth.

She, in a slew of tears, nodded her head. Ruby really wanted to cry as well, but she held them back. She took the ring out and grabbed Sapphire’s left hand. Placed it on the ring finger.

Perfect fit.

Sapphire pulled the other into a kiss, right after it happened.

Sapphire pulled away first, looking into Ruby’s eyes.

It caused Sapphire to laugh.

“There’s my Laffy Saffy.” Ruby said with a wide grin.

Lightly kissing the blue woman’s lips, she said in that moment:  
“Life really is great.”


End file.
